Releasing Linda
by Brienna25
Summary: Linda comes to America to study for a year. She meets the Benedict family and finds out things about herself she doesn't want to know. *** Will's Soulfinder Story.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note. **  
><strong>I became obsessed with the Finding Sky series and I wanted to live in this world a bit longer, so I decided to write Will's Soulfinder Story.<strong>  
><strong>All credits to Joss Stirling for this wonderful world and the amazing characters!<strong>

**Chapter 1.**

I rummaged through my handbag. Where was it? This was really just like me, to lose it before I can even use it. They wouldn't know who I am. Ah! There it was! I took out the badge and put it on my jacket. With a sense of relief I got out of the plane. It was a long trip, but at least I could sleep through most of it. I felt strangely tired, which I shouldn't be, since I slept, but normally I would be in bed now. I hoped I get adjusted to the time-zone change fast enough without really experiencing a jet lag.

After I got my bags I went to the main hall. Wow, there were really a lot of people there. At the information desk I saw a woman with a sign. I could see it's from my exchange program, so I walked over to her.

"You are Linda," she nodded at my badge and held out her hand. "Linda from Holland, I'm Jessa and I will be getting you to the university."  
>I shook her hand and gave her a smile.<br>"Nice to meet you, Jessa."  
>"You're not the last to arrive, I'm afraid we'll have to wait for two more planes. You can wait in the bus if you want to get some sleep or you can wait in the resting area. Please, just don't wander away from me, or I will have to go and find you."<br>"I won't, I just need to use the restroom first and then I'll get to the resting area."  
>She smiled again.<br>"Great! See you in an hour or so then!"  
>I followed the signs to the bathroom and cleaned myself up a bit. The cold water felt good to my face and I felt freshened up.<p>

After the other students arrived, Jessa got us all to the bus. I sat down to a girl with red hair, she's wearing glasses and she looked really tired. I supposed I looked a bit like that now. She smiled at me and started to say something, but then Jessa began talking through the microfone.  
>"Welcome to America! Now that we're all here, I can do a bit explaining. We're heading of to the university now. It will be a 3 hour drive, so for those of you experiencing jet lag, get some sleep while you still can. When we get to the university, Mark will be there, he will take the boys to their rooms. The girls will follow me. We made sure everyone shares a room with someone who will take the same classes as you, so they can show you around. If you have any questions, you can always ask them, or come find Mark or me. I hope you have a wonderful time here, we are definitely excited to have you here!"<br>She put down the microfone and sat down. People began to start talking and the girl next to me tried again.  
>"Hi, I'm Loretta, from Spain, everyone just calls me Lola though. Nice to meet you."<br>I shook her hand.  
>"I'm Linda, from The Netherlands. It's nice to meet you as well."<br>We talked a bit about the places we are from, but even though we are from the same time zone, I could tell Lola was way more tired than I was. She excused herself but I waved it off and told her to get some rest while she can.

I woke up to Jessa talking.  
>"We're here! Please all get your bags and follow me girls. Boys, Mark is out there. Let's go!"<br>Ugh. She sounds way too cheerful to someone just waking up. Lola gave me a look which told me she agrees.  
>We got out of the bus and followed Jessa with our bags.<br>"When I call your name, come get your papers and key from me and go find your room. They're numbered, so it won't be hard to find them."

She started calling of names and handing out keys. When she called mine, I walked over to her and looked at my information sheet. Room 62. I opened the door and walked in to see a girl sitting at the desk. She was sitting with a laptop, but turned around at the sound of the door.  
>"You must me by room mate for this year! Hello, I'm Phoenix."<br>She got up from her chair.  
>"Here, let me help you with that."<br>She took one of my bags and placed it next to the empty bed, then turned around to look at me.  
>Oh, I was supposed to say something, I was just standing there looking at her.<br>"I'm sorry," I held out my hand "I'm Linda, nice to meet you."  
>She smiled at me.<br>"Jet-lag? I had when I first came here from England."  
>This news confused me a bit.<br>"I thought I was going to be paired up with someone from here?"  
>"Oh, you are! I live here now. I decided to come to America, I've been living here for two years now."<br>"Oh, sorry. Again."  
>I can not believe I was that rude.<br>"That's okay. I know I felt a bit overwhelmed coming to America. I'm sure you must have jet lag and would like to rest up some more."  
>"I slept in the plane and I slept in the bus. I should be fine."<br>"It is best to just go right through it. I'll just leave you alone for an hour or so to get settled in. And then I'll come and pick you up for lunch?"  
>"That sounds really great, thank you."<br>Phoenix walked to the door and turned around before leaving.  
>"I think we're going to have a lot of fun!"<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.**

After I unpacked my stuff and Phoenix got back she took me down to the lunchroom.  
>"We usually have lunch here, but if you're in between classes, you can also just grab something from the cafeteria in the main building."<br>We walked over to the buffet and both got trays. She continued talking.  
>"We have warm meals in the evening, but usually there's soup at lunch time."<br>She stopped to look at me. "What would you like?"  
>I looked at all the food.<br>"Where I'm from, you bring your lunch, usually bread, with you to school, I'm a bit overwhelmed by all of this. I think I'll just have bread and some soup."  
>She laughed.<br>"That's a good choice."  
>We both filled our trays and I looked around for a table. Phoenix went straight for an empty table so I just followed her. I wondered if she didn't have friends where she would normally sit with, but as we went towards the table, she waved to other people and exchanged a few comments with some of them.<br>"I thought you might like to eat in some sort of privacy instead of meeting everyone right away. People will be flocking either way though."  
>"Well, that's what you get when you decide to come to a foreign country for a year." I tried to joke. But she was right, I did feel uncomfortable. I really wanted to come to America, but it was kind of intimidating, all these people. This university is way much bigger than the one where I went to in The Netherlands. Phoenix looked at me as if she knew and I thought about how she had told that she also came from another country.<br>When we both finished eating, Phoenix got up.  
>"Well, you have the day off today, but I still need to attend my classes. Are you okay here?"<br>I didn't know. But I would have to be. I couldn't just stick to her all the time, so I tried to smile with confidence.  
>"Of course."<br>"Then I will see you after classes."

She left, taking both of our trays with her. I watched her put them on the counter and leave out the door. Then I looked around the almost empty room, spotting Lola waving at me. She was sitting at a table with some other peope I recognized from the bus. I walked over to them.  
>"Hey, Linda, I wondered where you went, we all had lunch together." Lola said.<br>"My room mate asked me to have lunch with her, so..." I started, but one of the guys interrupted me. He leaned over the table to take my hand.  
>"Well, hello, lovely lady, I'm Rico, from Italia, where are you from?"<br>He had a very thick accent which made me smile. I tried to pull my hand away as I introduced myself.  
>"I'm Linda, from The Netherlands."<br>He didn't let go of my hand, but lifted it up and kissed my palm while he kept his eyes on mine.  
>"How lovely to meet you."<br>I felt my cheeks burning red and heard Lola and some others laugh.  
>"She isn't used to that kind of thing." Lola said.<br>"We'll just have to give her some time to loosen up then." One of the other boys said.  
>I wanted to keep my head down in embarrassment but instead decided to look around the table. I didn't want to become the permanent object of laughter. All of these people came from the bus and I recognized most of them by face, even though I was only properly introduced to Rico and Lola. It wasn't a big group, the total of us foreigners just being ten people. I shook hands and was introduced to all of them, but I didn't remember all of the names. Two were sisters from France, the only two coming from the same country. One boy came from Greece. I'd get to know all of them in time, I guessed.<p>

I was surprised at how easy it was to adjust to the American university life. Phoenix introduced me to some friends of her and I quickly became friends with the other international students. Classes could be hard sometimes, because of the language difference, but Phoenix was really nice and tried to help me understand everything.  
>During the week I would follow classes. In the weekends Phoenix would go home and I had the room to myself. Most students went home, but of course the international students stuck around as well, so I had people to talk to. And I enjoyed taking long walks by myself as well.<br>The group of international students still liked to make fun of me because I wasn't hot-tempered or particularly passionate about things, I was just this down-to-earth Dutch girl. Apparently, so I was told by Lola and the French Louisa and Marcella, I didn't even respond to guys trying to flirt with me. I couldn't even believe guys would flirt with me at all, but they said I was just oblivious to it. When I asked her about it, Phoenix full heartedly agreed with the girls. That was fine, I didn't care about boys anyway. Definitely not since I would be going back to The Netherlands. And I was just not the type of girl to get into something you knew couldn't last.

After a few weeks, Phoenix asked me if I would like to come with her for the weekend. We were sitting in our room when she asked.  
>"It will be fun, it's just a one hour drive. Yves will come pick us up."<br>I hadn't met her boyfriend yet, just seen him from a distance.  
>"Come on, Linda, you can stay at our place, you'll get your own room. My family would really like to meet you. Karla has been telling me to bring you over since you got here."<br>I couldn't really understand that. Yes, I'm Dutch, but that doesn't make me really special, just Dutch.  
>"Who is Karla?"<br>"My mother-in-law."  
>"Your boyfriends mother."<br>Phoenix looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Well, really, my mother-in-law. We are married."  
>"What?"<br>"I know, I know," she held up both hands. "We are young, but I'm from England and it gave me the visa needed to stay here. We generally don't tell people."  
>I didn't think they were too young at all. Friends around me had married at a young age, I was used to it.<br>"Anyway," she said "Karla has been asking me to bring you, she would really like to meet someone from The Netherlands. And, she's been worrying that you will feel alone around the holidays, so she asked me to bring you for Thanksgiving. And if you're going to do Thanksgiving, with the entire family, then it's better you come for a weekend or two first, so you don't meet them all at once."  
>"Them <em>all?<em>" I asked her.  
>"Well, yes, Yves has 6 brothers."<br>"6!" It was all I could manage. Well, I've met big families before, but in a whole other country, another culture, it didn't seem like something I would want to do.  
>"Oh, don't worry. Only Zed and Uriel will be home this weekend. Like I said, you won't be meeting all of them at once. You will stay at my house, not with them. And besides, you're in America, another country! You should go and see more than just the university grounds."<br>Now that was the argument that really pulled me in.  
>"Okay, Phee, I'll come."<br>"Great!" She jumped up from her bed and started packing for me. Her enthusiasm was catching on to me now that I decided to come.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3.**

"Nice to meet you, I'm Yves."  
>He held out his hand to me with a smile. Wow, he was cute. I could definitely see why Phoenix would've fallen for him. I shook his hand.<br>"I'm Linda, thanks for having me this weekend."  
>"I'm glad you're willing to come along, Phee has been talking a lot about you and my mom kept telling her to bring you," he laughed. "It's like you're doing us a favor."<br>Still, I could understand if he would not like me to tag along. He didn't see his girlfriend – wife – all week, so I figured private time would be nice. I got in the car and Yves took off.

"We've got an hour drive, so we'll explain you some stuff about our family." Yves said, while he looked at me in the rearview mirror.  
>"You know I have 6 brothers, I don't have any sisters. Trace is the oldest, he's married to Diamond and lives in Denver. Uriel, Victor and Will all live there as well, the three of them have an appartment together. Xavier is married to Crystal, Diamond's sister, and they live in New York, where Xav is in med school. I'm the next in line and then we have Zed, the youngest, he still lives with my parents. His girlfriend is Sky, she lives with her parents as well. She's usually at my parents' house in the weekends, with Zed. If they aren't there, they come over to our place."<br>"I don't think I can remember all of that right away."  
>"That's alright," Phee replied cheerfully, "You'll get to know them. After all, you're gonna be in America for a full year and only two months have passed."<br>I could tell she genuinly hoped I would become good friends with her and her family.

Before the car stopped, the door of the house already went open.  
>"Hey!"<br>A man came running out and openend the door on Phee's side. He pulled her out of the car and into a hug.  
>"Little Phee, I've missed you!"<br>Phee let out a small yelp of excitement when her feet went into the air.  
>"Put me down, Uri, now!"<br>"Uri, we have a guest, behave!" A small woman with long dark hair came outside. She turned around to me and gave me a hug. "So nice to meet you, Linda, I'm Karla."  
>A bit startled because of the hug I replied: "Nice to meet you to, Mrs. Benedict."<br>"Oh, don't call me that dear, just say Karla. All the girls do. Come inside, all of you."  
>She rushed us inside, saying that dinner was almost ready. She complained about Yves not eating enough and told Phoenix how good she looked. I watched them and saw that they are close. You could see that this family loves each other. There's complaining and banter, but all in good fun.<p>

"Let me introduce myself, I'm Uriel."  
>The long man looked at me and I took his hand. His eyes seemed to narrow a bit, but it happened so fast that I thought I'd imagined it. Uriel was also very good looking. Looking around I saw the youngest brother as well, Zed. Just as handsome, but very tall and intimidating. But that washed away everytime he looked at Sky. Uriel introduced me to the rest of the family and we sat down for dinner. Saul asked me about my family in Holland.<br>"Well, actually, it's The Netherlands." Everyone but Phee and Yves looked a bit surprised at that comment. I regretted having said it, I didn't want to be rude, I wanted to apologize, but Yves was first.  
>"Holland is a part of the country, dad, the whole of it is called The Netherlands. It's divided into different areas."<br>"Of course you would know that." Uriel muttered and everyone laughed. Phee looked at me encouragingly.  
>"I live with my parents in Groningen, I have a little brother and I'm part of a twin."<br>"So there's another beautiful one of you walking around?" Uriel said. I laughed.  
>"No, I have a twin brother."<br>"Oh, that's horrible, those tend to be protective of their sisters even more than just big brothers." Yves shot him a warning look, but the rest of the people at the table just laughed.

After dinner Yves drove us to their house. Phee showed me my room and told me that if I needed anything, I should just ask for it.  
>On Saturday, Phee showed me around town and we went shopping for a bit. And on Sunday we went back to Benedicts house again for brunch. Phee said it was something they did every Sunday.<br>"Linda, is there anything you'd like to do today?" Karla asked me.  
>"I was thinking of walking into the mountains." Phee made a face, showing that she wasn't much of a walker. "I can go alone, you don't have to come with me, Phee. I don't mind walking by myself."<br>Uriel peeked around the door, his hair was wet and he was only wearing a pair of jeans.  
>"I'll walk with you Linda."<br>I wanted to protest that he really didn't have to do that, but he was already gone.  
>"Well, it's best anyway, to have a guide." Karla said, "It's not hard to get lost in those mountains." Saul nodded and Phee seemed relieved. With all of them agreeing on it, I got the sense protesting wouldn't make any difference. But when Uriel and I left the house, I still tried.<br>"Really, I can just go by myself."  
>"It's no problem, I like walking." He sounded so firm that I didn't answer. And we walked in silence. When we got to the trail I saw it was gonna be a climb. I was out of breath in no time, so Uriel slowed down a bit, so I could catch my breath again. When we got to the top I turned around to look at the view. It felt good standing here, my feet warm from the walking, a little out of breath still. It felt like a reward seeing such a beautiful view.<p>

"So, tell me, what are your hobbies?"  
>I had almost forgotten Uriel was standing there and by the smile on his face I could tell he had noticed that.<br>"Uhm. I like to walk. Obviously."  
>He nodded, looking expectantly, waiting for me to continue.<br>"I read a lot and I like to sing."  
>"Really?" His eyes lit up. "Sing something for me."<br>"Oh, no! I don't sing for people, I just sing for myself."  
>"Why? What's the fun in it if you can't show it off?"<p>

"I like to sing for myself, I don't know if other people will like hearing it." I admitted. Before he could say anything, which I could tell he wanted to, I continued: "I like music. I like singing. A song can tell a story. Music can get through to the soul. I just love the way singing makes me feel. I don't know if I even _want_ to share that. Or if I could, for that matter."  
>Uriel looked at me but didn't reply, I guessed he was thinking it through. After a while he did say something.<br>"I get what you mean, I think." He looks at me and smiles. "Let's head back down."


	4. Chapter 4

** Chapter 4.**

When we went back to the university that afternoon, Karla told me that I was welcome to come by anytime. Phoenix insisted that I'd treat the room at her house as my own and after a few weeks I started leaving some clothes and other stuff over there. During the week I went to my classes and had fun with the other students. In the weekends I would come with Phee and Yves to their house, with brunch at the Benedicts house every Sunday.

Before I knew it, the week of Thanksgiving was there. It was a full week without classes and Phee decided I would spend the entire week at their house.  
>I was feeling a bit nervous about meeting the entire family. I saw Zed and Sky regularly, but out of the rest of them, I had only met Uriel.<br>Karla had told me not to worry about it, the boys wouldn't be arriving all at once. They would be dropping in during the week. When we got there on Friday, Uriel was already there. It was nice to at least see a familiar face at first. We had been mailing each other a lot and I had become friends with him, we found out we had a lot in common.  
>"Xav and Crystal will be here Thursday, Xav could only get two days off from the hospital, so they will only be here for Thanksgiving Day, but the rest will be here on Tuesday." Karla told us at dinner.<p>

The next morning Yves and I were sitting at the kitchen table. It had become our Saturday morning routine, both of us working on our laptops during breakfast. Phee was usually somewhere around the house.  
>When the door opened, Yves and I both looked up to see Uriel walking in. I assumed he was here for Yves so I turned my attention to the screen again. But then my laptop was closed.<br>"Hey, I'm working on that!" I looked up at Uriel, who was grinning at me.

"Yes, you were. And now you're not, you're coming with me."  
>"Do you think that's a good idea Uriel?" Yves also closed his laptop and walked over to my side of the table. Uriel didn't say anything but looked at Yves and raised his eyebrow. Phoenix came walking in.<br>"Hey Uri, what are you doing here?" Yves turned to Phoenix, but Uriel looked at me.  
>"You can't go dressed like that, you need something that's loose and easy to move around in."<br>"Well, I didn't bring any sportswear, do you know how much the luggage cost me?"  
>Uriel laughed. "Phee, can you borrow her some?"<br>"Sure, come on."  
>Phoenix took me up to her room.<br>"Is there something going on between you and Uri?"  
>"What? Oh, no, we're definitely just friends."<br>"Yves didn't seem to think so." she stated.  
>"Well, there's nothing going on."<br>I changed into Phee's clothes and got in the car with Uriel.

"Where are you taking me?"  
>"I'm not telling you."<br>"You know I don't like surprises."  
>"Sure you do, every girl likes surprises."<br>"I don't, Uri."  
>"Sky told me you've taken up singing."<br>I sighed. "Where are you taking me?"  
>"I'm not telling you." he sang.<br>"Fine." I turned to look out the window.  
>"Tell me about your singing, Sky told me you sing with her?"<br>Back at the university I had told Phoenix about my talk with him and she had insisted that I'd try singing anyway. First just with her alone, in our room at the university. But she'd said she liked my voice so much that I just had to sing with Sky. So she got Sky to play the piano and sing with me, I usually sang with her on Sunday afternoon's now.  
>Ignoring him wouldn't make him tell me where we were going. "Yeah, Phee made me."<p>

After only half an hour of driving, Uriel stopped the car.  
>"We're here."<br>I looked up at a grey building. It wasn't big and I didn't get what it was. Uriel opened my door.  
>"Come on, adventure awaits."<br>"It's in this building?"  
>"Nope, we're just passing through here."<br>We walked in and I saw a lot of climbing equipment.  
>"You're taking me climbing?" I asked Uriel.<br>"Yep, thought you'd like to climb some real mountains."  
>I already loved it. I had written in my mails that I loved to go wall-climbing.<br>The man behind the counter came our way. He got us our climbing gear and came outside with us. Uriel knew him and I guessed the man didn't think explaining to Uriel was necessary any more. Instead he explained everything to me. I listened intently, but it turned out I didn't need instructions either, it was the same equipment I used at my climbing gym. The man went back inside and Uriel pointed out the route.  
>"The first part is easy, we climb that wall to get up to the platform. There's a harder part up there, which we'll take then. Once we get to the top of that, we'll have lunch," he turned around, showing the bag on his shoulders, "and we'll walk the trail down to the first platform again. Last, we will descend down the first part again."<p>

We both put on our helmets. Uriel was right, the first part was easy. The second part was a bit more difficult. We didn't talk, I needed all of my concentration to find my grip to the way up. Uriel started pointing out where to reach on to.  
>I was just looking for a ledge for my hand, when I felt my foot slip. My hands didn't have enough grip to hold my weight. Before I even made a sound, Uriel had grabbed my wrist.<br>"I'm secure, you can let go." I assured him.  
>He grinned. "Not gonna do that. You fall, I catch. Place your foot to your right, a little bit further."<br>I found the ledge and supported my own weight again.  
>"Thanks." I breathed. I had fallen many times on a climb, and I knew I was secure, so not really in danger, but you always get a rush of adrenaline when you fall.<p>

We finished the route and Uriel gave me the water bottle.  
>"You did even better than I expected you to," he said, "We finished the entire route in less than two hours."<br>"I told you I can climb."  
>"You can," he agreed, "but you did scare me there though, you could've gotten hurt."<br>"I was secure, I've lost grip many times, nothing would've happened."

"Yeah, well, you are used to a climbing wall, that's something different than slamming into a rock wall."  
>I shrugged it off. I didn't only climb at home, but a lot of other physical activities as well. I was used to getting minor injuries. We finished our lunch and packed up again. The walk back down took more time than the climb up, we had to follow a longer path. But I didn't mind, I liked being out in nature, no walk was ever too long for me. When we got to the abseiling I was already feeling tired. I was used to long walks and spending the entire day outside with physical activities, but just a few months without my normal exercise routines had made my physical fitness less than it was. Starting next week, I decided, I would go and do morning runs at the university. Even though I was feeling a bit drained, the abseiling felt great as usual, it felt freeing to just slide down. We got in the car and Uriel drove us home. I didn't think I was that tired, but I soon fell asleep in the car.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Ready to meet Will? ;-)**

**Chapter 5.**

The next few days I spent most of my time with Uriel or alone. I wanted to give Phoenix and Yves some time for themselves and I knew Phee appreciated that.  
>On Tuesday morning during breakfast Yves told me they were going to go to the Benedicts' house to wait for the rest of the family to arrive. As soon as we walked into the kitchen, Uriel leaped up.<br>"Come on, let's walk."  
>He turned me around and led me to the door. I saw Karla smiling, but Saul looked at Uriel with a worried expression. Uriel started talking and I forgot about Saul. We took a route I hadn't walked before and I was again amazed by how beautiful everything was. The walk took about an hour and when we got back to the house, there was another car parked. Uriel smiled.<br>"They're here! Let's have some fun!"  
>He grinned at me, picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, making me gasp for air.<br>"Uri, put me down!"  
>He walked inside. "Yeah, in a minute."<br>"No, put me down now!" I began batting his back, but all I got was a pat on my behind in return.  
>I was still telling him to put me down when we got in the kitchen.<br>"Alright, alright."

He put me on the kitchen counter and we both laughed. He didn't let go of my hand and looked to the other end of the room. I realized the kitchen was filled with his family. I didn't hear any voices so I had assumed they were in another room. They had fallen silent because of the way we entered the room and I guessed Uriel was out for this kind of reaction. Uriel grinned, confirming my suspicion.  
>"Hey guys, meet my girl, Linda."<br>I turned to look at him. His girl? Now I understood what he meant when he said for us to have some fun before going inside. A man and woman holding hands came walking up to me. He held out his hand to me.  
>"Hi, I'm Trace, this is my wife Diamond." I shook both of their hands, mumbling something about how nice it was to meet them and they walked back to the table. People were starting to talk again and Uriel had left my side to sit at the table as well. I jumped from the counter and looked the other man in the eye.<p>

"Hi, I'm Will."  
>The Benedict brother's were goodlooking, but he made my breath catch in my throat. I had to cough before I could talk.<br>"Linda." I coughed again. "And not Uriels girlfriend."  
>He laughed loudly, making some heads at the table turn. Why did I say that? I just felt the urge to tell him, even though I had no doubt he knew Uriel had made a joke. He agreed with my thoughts.<br>"Yes, I know."  
>As he shook my hand I felt a shock going through my body. He looked a bit surprised himself, but seemed to shake it off. As I just stood there, looking at him, I was trying to come up with something to say.<br>"Want some coffee, Linda?"  
>I almost jumped, I had not noticed Uriel walking back to us. I breathed in and turned away from Will, who also was still looking at me.<br>"You know better," I tried to joke, "tea for me, please."  
>Will motioned for me to walk to the table before him so I went and sat down next to Sky, who immediately turned to me, asking me to sing later. I started to say no but Diamond leaned over to look at us.<br>"I would like to hear you sing."  
>She said it with such genuine interest that I couldn't refuse her. So after I finished my tea Sky and I went to the living room where she got behind the piano. Diamond, Phoenix and Karla came in to listen. Diamond didn't make me feel uncomfortable at all, I felt at ease singing in front of her. Sky and I first sang a few songs together and then Sky started talking about some changes and different things she wanted to try with one of the songs. As she and I talked about it, the three other women sat down in a corner of the room, chatting and catching up on things.<br>When Sky and I had finished up a song I looked at the door and saw Will standing there. He smiled at me and walked out again.

"Will and Uriel are coming over to our house for the next few nights," Phoenix told me before dinner. "We've got spare rooms and it'll get crowded in here with the entire family present. They are used to that of course, but since there is an extra house with extra rooms, we felt it was best to give all the couples a room alone."  
>So after dinner, Will and Uriel got in the car with us. Phee and Yves took the two front seats and since it was just a short ride, the boys both got in the back with me. I felt strangely uncomfortable and yet really comfortable at the same time. After all the time I had spent with Uriel and all the things we knew about each other, I didn't mind being this close to him at all. But after meeting him for the first time in the kitchen, I hadn't talked to Will at all. I felt a strange energy, a tingling feeling from his physical being next to me. And it seemed like Will was feeling something as well, he wasn't talking much. Uriel tried to keep the conversation going, but it wasn't as light-hearted as I usually spoke with him.<p>

When we got home Yves asked if we wanted something to drink. I said no, excused myself and went to my room. Uriel looked after me when I walked out of the room. I changed into my pyjama and sat on my bed. I took out a book but couldn't concentrate on it. I started up my laptop to write some on my school-work, but I couldn't concentrate on that either. Frustrated, I put my laptop away and lay down on the bed, trying to relax.  
>After a while I heard the rest coming up the stairs and saying good night to each other. I tried to fall asleep, but I felt I had to much energy in my body, even though it was late.<br>What _was_ it about Will? It wasn't like I instantly fell in love, although there was an instant jump of my heart when I saw him. It just felt like a connection, something that was there before I met him but like I only recognized it when I did meet him.  
>Knowing I wouldn't be able to fall asleep right now, I decided to go out for a run. Yes, it was late, but I was used to running in the dark, I wasn't afraid. And I would only go a few rounds around the house. Just getting some excersice would help me. I got up and changed into my running clothes.<p>

"Going out?"  
>I let out a small yelp as I spun around to see Will standing in the living room doorway.<br>"Yeah," I breathed, "I was going to take a run."  
>He frowned at me. "You shouldn't be going out at night."<br>I just shrugged. "I'm used to it."  
>"You really want to go and take a run now?"<br>"Yeah, can't sleep."  
>"Okay, let me put my shoes on."<br>"Why?" I asked him, I didn't get why _he_ needed shoes.  
>"I'm coming with you of course. Not letting you go out by yourself."<p>

I felt even more frustrated with myself now, so I ran as fast as I could, all the time being extremely aware of Will running next to me. All I needed was to get tired. Uriel had always been able to keep up with my easily, so I was guessing Will wouldn't have any problem with it either. Well, obviously he didn't. When we got back to the house, I was panting, but he was breathing calmly, totally at ease.  
>"Warm milk?" Will asked as he headed to the kitchen.<br>I followed him in. "Only if it's chocolate milk, I replied."  
>He poured some chocolate milk into a pan and sat down at one of the stools at the counter. I went to stand opposite of him, with the counter between us. We were both silent, I was trying to think of something to say, but then Will started up the conversation.<br>"You became good friends with Uriel?"  
>Relieved to be talking about anything at all, I replied: "Yeah, Uri was the first one I met, well, after Yves and Phoenix, of course. We've been mailing a lot and usually go out for walks together."<br>"You are e-mailing with Uri?"  
>I was surprised he didn't know this.<br>"Didn't he say that? He lives with you right?"  
>"Yeah, but I've been traveling," Will said, "I haven't been keeping in touch with any of them lately."<br>"Really? Where have you been to?"  
>"Oh, just around." It sounded like he didn't want to answer the question.<br>I turned around to get two cups out of the cabinet and put the on the counter. Then turned for the pan again.

Hot!  
>A flash of pain went through my head, as Will shouted:<br>"No!"  
>Both of my hands went to my head, holding it, I felt tears coming up.<br>"Are you okay? Does your hand hurt?"  
>I couldn't talk yet. The pain in my head was too unexpected, but I felt it fade away already. Will tried to get my hands from my head to check them.<br>"No," I tried, "no, my hands are fine. It's my head, it's my head that hurts."  
>"Your head? You didn't touch the pan?"<br>"No, I didn't take the pan."  
>Will sighed. "Good, that would have made a bad burn." He looked at me. "But what happened with your head?"<br>"I don't know, I just felt a sudden burst of pain. I never had it before and it's gone already. But still, I think I'll be of to bed now."  
>"That might be a good idea. Do you want a painkiller?"<br>"No, thank you. Good night."  
>All of a sudden, the little energy I had left was gone as well. I felt totally drained and exhausted, by the time I got to my bed I didn't bother changing any more, I just lay down and easily fell asleep. <p>


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Like most writers, I love to read reviews and find out what you think!**

**Chapter 6.**

Hot!  
>I woke up hearing Will's voice in my head. I shook it off. Nonsense. For whatever reason my head had hurt last night. I must have dreamed Will's voice up. I changed into comfortable clothes and went down for breakfast.<br>When I walked into the kitchen, Phee was sitting on Yves lap, Uriel was at a stool by the counter and Will was making eggs.  
>"Good morning, want some?" Will pointed his spatula at the pan.<br>"Yes, thank you."  
>"How's your head?"<br>Uriel looked up from his plate, surprised.  
>"Uhm. Fine, it didn't hurt anymore by the time I went to sleep."<br>"What happened?"  
>Before I could say something, Will answered Uriel.<br>"Linda couldn't sleep last night, we went for a run and made some hot chocolate milk, but she got a headache."  
>"More like a flash of pain. I don't know what it was. But I'm fine now."<br>"Maybe Xav..."  
>"Uri." Will's eyes shot to me and then to Uri. "I'm fine."<br>"If you have it again ask Xav about it tomorrow."  
>As if I was going to ruin their family holiday. I just nodded, my eyes drifting to Will again.<p>

Phee and Yves got up from their chair.  
>"Ready to go guys?"<br>I didn't know what the plan was, so I looked at Phee for explaining.  
>"We're spending the days at the Benedicts' house. Are you coming?"<br>I looked at my full plate. Phee followed my gaze and laughed.  
>"Finish your breakfast first."<br>"I'll wait up for you." Uriel told me. "You guys go ahead."  
>"You should just go with them, I'll stay here, I have work to catch up on." I felt like I was invading on their family time too much already. I was going to be there tomorrow. And I would like the time alone. This family never paused, there was always something going on, whether it was singing, playing a board game or a physical activity. I was looking forward to a quiet day.<br>"Are you sure?" Uriel asked me. I knew he didn't like me being alone.  
>"You know I don't mind being alone." I told him and he believed me.<br>They all got their stuff and left for the Benedicts' house.

After I finished my breakfast I decided to go for another run first. Just seeing Will for the ten minutes at breakfast had made me tense. I reacted strangely to him. I didn't understand what it was, but I felt drawn to him as to a magnet. Him looking at me made my skin prickly and I got restless everytime I was around him. The run didn't fully help so I took a long hot shower as well. That at least helped my muscles to relax and I calmed down.

I could concentrate on my work again and worked on my laptop for a few hours. I didn't stop to have lunch, but only ate some fruit – a bad habit I knew I should overcome, but I just didn't allow myself the time to make sandwiches. After a few hours I noticed it was getting dark, so I switched on some lights. I was hungry so I decided to cook for myself, the rest were probably staying at the Benedicts' house for dinner.

I put on water to boil for pasta and made a tomato sauce. After that I made slices in a baguette, filling it with garlic butter and then baking it in the oven. Just as I poured the water from the pasta, I heard a voice at the door.  
>"What are you doing?"<br>My heart jumped and I let the pan slip, by instinct trying to catch it and burning my hand in the action. Will walked over to me, grabbed a towel to take the pan from me and I cooled my hand with cold water.  
>"So, pans and you don't go well together?"<br>"They normally do," I grumbled, annoyed.  
>Will just laughed at my annoyance. "Mom send me to pick you up, she didn't want you to eat dinner by yourself."<br>"You're too late, I already cooked. Can't let this food go to waste."  
>"Yes, that would be a shame," he agreed, "I'll call mom." He took out his phone and waited for Karla to answer. "Mom, Linda already cooked for herself, I'll stay here and eat with her."<br>I lifted my eyebrow at him, Will winked at me.

I plated up for Will and myself and we sat down at the kitchen table. As we started to eat, I tried to think of something to talk about, but there was an awkward silence. At least, I felt awkward, Will seemed to be perfectly at ease. After a few minutes, he broke the silence.  
>"Did you make the sauce yourself?"<br>I swallowed.  
>"Yes, I normally make the pasta and bread myself as well, but I didn't have the time for it now, I was feeling too hungry."<br>His eyes widened a bit.  
>"You make pasta yourself?"<br>"I like to bake and cook. It's satisfying to know you made your meal from scratch."  
>"So I assume you made some dessert as well?"<br>"Not yet, but I can make something quick."  
>I got up and took the plates.<br>"You're going to have to help though." I told him, looking over my shoulder.  
>Will got up as well and came to the counter. I handed him two apples.<br>"Peel these apples for me, and cut them into small pieces."  
>Will started to peel the apples and I got flour, butter and sugar. I weighed the right amounts and starting kneading them. I used three quarter of it to fill two bowls, put in the apple pieces with some sugar and cinnamon and then crumbled the rest of the dough on top of it. As I put it in the oven, I could feel Will's eyes on me.<p>

We sat at the counter eating our desserts.  
>"Mom hasn't put you on dessert duty for tomorrow?"<br>"Oh no! I offered, but she wouldn't let me do anything. All I'm allowed to do is show up, sit and be pretty and maybe sing some."  
>He laughed out loud, I liked the sound of it.<br>"My mother said that?" He kept laughing.  
>I grinned sheepishly. "Actually, Uri said that."<br>He stopped laughing and looked at me seriously.  
>"Well, I can't disagree with him."<br>What did he mean? As he kept looking at me, I could feel the breath catching in my throat again. Will leaned towards me and I wondered if he was going to kiss me. I hoped he would kiss me. And that thought made me understand my reaction to him. I was attracted to him.  
>Just as he was really going to kiss me, we heard the front door open.<p>

Aaahhh...  
>I heard a moan in my head as I felt the same pain as last night seering through it. Will had his eyes closed, and I quickly blinked away my tears, before he opened his eyes again.<br>"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..." he sighed, "I need some air."  
>Will got up and went outside through the kitchen door. As the door closed, Uriel came walking in through the other door.<br>"Where's Will going?"  
>"He said he needed some air." I answered him.<br>Uriel looked at me and I felt my cheecks burn even more.  
>"Are you okay?"<br>"Yeah, fine." He decided not to ask anything else.  
>"I'll go see about Will."<br>As he left, this time Phoenix and Yves came walking in.  
>"Where's Uri going?" Yves asked.<br>I laughed, explained and asked about their day. After a few minutes Uriel came walking back in and looked at Yves. Yves nodded at him, but didn't say anything. Phoenix was telling me they were planning on going to the Benedicts' house early the next day, because of all the preparations they still needed to do for dinner.

"I'll be fine," I assured her, "I'll just go for a walk."  
>"Oh, you don't want to do that," Uri said, "The snow has started."<br>"I love the snow! I always go walking in the snow at home."  
>Uriel stayed serious. "You don't want to go walking in this snow. It falls fast and there's a lot of it. It'll only take a week for the skiing area to be ready for use."<br>"Dad will be glad," Yves added, "The snow is falling late this year."  
>"Anyway, it's part of the reason we want you to come right away tomorrow morning. Then we don't have to ride through the snow a second time."<br>"I'll just bring my laptop and a book then."  
>Will came walking in, his hair and coat covered in snow.<br>He walked past us to the other hall way. Yves and Phoenix got up as well, heading for the living room. Uriel asked if I wanted to play a board game with them, so I joined them. Phee asked Will to join as well but he said he was tired, earning him strange looks from both Uri and Yves, though they didn't comment on it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7.**

As soon as we got out of the car, Will walked away from me and headed inside. Karla was walking through the living room, giving out orders. It was always fun to watch her leading her household, such a small woman, but she had all of them running for her with a single word.  
>"Uri, get extra blankets from the attic please, dad is already setting up extra beds." Karla looked at Will. "Will, you get to the kitchen with Yves. Girls," she gestured to Phee, Diamond and Sky, "please help set up the beds." Then she looked at me. "You sit down dear."<br>"Karla, I can help, I don't mind."  
>"No need, dear, you're a guest, you just sit down."<br>Trace came walking over to me.  
>"My mother is setting up beds because of the snow. She thinks we'll be snowed in by the time it's evening."<br>Uriel walked past me, commenting: "And mom's usually right." He and Trace smiled at each other, it seemed like an inside joke. One I didn't get.

I knew Karla wasn't going to let me help with anything, no matter how much I insisted, so I took my laptop and went to the living room. I took off my shoes and made myself comfortable on the couch. I knew I wouldn't get any work done, so I settled for a game. After a while Phee looked in.  
>"Brunch is ready, you hungry?"<br>I got up and went to the kitchen. The only place left for me to sit was next to Will. Great. After last night, I didn't know what to think of him. As soon as I sat down, my skin started tingling. He made me feel nervous without saying a word. Conversation soon started and Will turned to me.  
>"I'm sorry about last night." He said quietly. "I shouldn't have..."<br>"It's okay," I assured him, "You don't need to apologize."  
>As he opened his mouth to say something again, Karla got up from her seat.<br>"Vick!"  
>She hurried to the door as Victor walked in. He looked around the room as he let his mother hug him and his eyes stayed on me for a second. He made me wonder how I ever thought Zed looked scary. He was nothing compared to Victor. The way he smiled at his mother showed me that he could be a very kind person, but his features breathed 'dangerous'. More people got up from the table to greet Victor but I stayed at my seat. Will remained in his seat as well. When everybody went to sit down again Victor walked towards me.<p>

"Oh, sorry!" Phee said, "Vick, this is Linda, she's from The Netherlands."  
>I put out my hand to him, but he ignored it and looked at Will.<br>"You found her! Good for you, Will!"  
>Will looked just as confused as I felt. What was Victor talking about?<br>"No, Vick, she's not..." Saul's told him.  
>"Sure she is, she's got strong shields though, been blocking me from the minute I got in, but you do that as well."<br>I didn't understand him. Blocking? Shields? Was I supposed to know what this was about?  
>"Oh my God," I heard Karla whisper.<br>"Vick, a word outside." Saul walked up to him and took him outside. All the men followed, except for Uriel and Will. Will's head snapped up as if he heard something and he walked out as well. Uriel touched my hand and I felt a flash of pain through my head. He saw me grimacing.  
>"Are you okay?"<br>"It's just my head."  
>"Well, I'm definitely making Xav take a look at you when he gets home."<br>"Fine," I sighed, "But tomorrow then, okay?" I wanted to know what all of this was about. "What was Victor talking about?"  
>"He just thought you were Will's girlfriend."<br>"But why would he say Will found me? And that talk about blocking and shields? I don't get it."  
>"You don't understand any of it, do you?" Sky asked me as she shot a look at Uriel. He looked a bit more distant than he usual did, as if he was concentrating on something else as well.<br>"No, I really don't," I answered her.  
>"Don't worry about it. I'll go sort it out." Uriel assured me, or was he assuring the others? He stood up and walked out as well. The girls all sprang into action. Karla told Phee and Diamond to put all the food on the kitchen counter, if anyone still wanted to eat, they could just help themselves later on. Sky asked me to come to the piano. I knew I wasn't going to get any answers, so I followed her out. I still thought it was strange, but I also trusted Uriel, he would explain things to me later.<p>

After a while everyone came walking in again. Zed walked over to Sky, Victor looked at me suspiciously, making me shiver. I saw Saul sending him a warning look. Uriel motioned for me to come sit on the couch with him, which I did. Conversations started filling the room, but I could feel no one was really genuinely engaging. There seemed to be a collective sigh in the room when we heard the front door open.  
>"That must be Xav and Crystal!" Karla got up and headed for the door. Before she reached it, it had already opened. I could immediately see that this was another Benedict brother, he must be the tallest one of them. Crystal's eyes zoomed in on me immediately.<br>"Will, you found her!" She shouted and walked over to me.  
>I stood up from the couch and stepped back. I didn't fully register Uriel coming to stand next to me. This was the second time today someone in this family said Will had found me. Since I wasn't anywhere near Will, I knew it wasn't a coincidence. I still didn't know what it meant, but I was definitely freaked out now.<p>

"What is this about?" I demanded to know.  
>Everyone in the room was looking at me now. Crystal looked confused, like she didn't get my reaction. Will looked thunderstruck, Victor's expression was even more grim and Uriel tried to take my arm.<br>"Linda, let us explain."  
>"Explain what?"<p>

_Can you hear me? _  
>I felt another flash of pain through my head and I couldn't stop from myself from making a whimpering sound. This time I knew for certain that it was Will's voice inside my head. But how was that possible? You don't hear other people's voices in your head. Will took a step towards me, speaking in my head again.<br>_Can you? Can you hear me? _  
>I grimaced and Uriel stepped in front of me.<br>"You're hurting her Will."  
>"We're scaring her." Sky said.<br>"I need some air." I told Uriel.  
>"No! She'll leave!" Zed exclaimed.<br>Right he was. I wanted to get away from here. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know if I could trust them. Or trust my head, even.  
>"Calm her down, Vick." Saul requested.<br>Victor looked at me and I felt stings in my head. This time, I couldn't stop myself from crying out. Without wanting it, my hands both went to my head, holding it.  
>"Please stop," I whimpered, panic racing through my body.<br>"You're hurting her Vick, stop it!" Uriel called as he sat down beside me and held my shoulders. How did I get on the floor? Then the pain stopped. But it was already to much. I opened my eyes, looked at Uriel and then everything went black. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8.**

I heard the voices before I opened my eyes.  
>"She'll be waking up in a minute or so." I didn't fully recognize this voice, it had to be Xavier.<br>"Could you help her?" That voice I did recognize, it was Uriel.  
>"There was nothing wrong with her physically, she just fainted. Mentally... I didn't get anything, it was like a barrier I couldn't push past."<br>"I felt that as well," I shivered, that was Victor, "She wasn't shielding me, I would have been able to break through a shield. It's like she's a shield herself."  
>"Alright, let's give her some more space. Everyone out." I could hear the concern in Saul's voice.<br>"Dad, we don't know who she is." Victor protested.  
>"I said out, Vick, you'll be close by enough if needed." Saul was firm now.<br>I heard footsteps leaving the room and decided it would be safe to open my eyes now. Uriel let out a small sigh.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"  
>I checked the room to see Will standing on the other end of the room with Phee and Yves. Karla and Saul were sitting on the couch and Uriel was next to me, they had moved me to a couch as well.<br>"Uhm... Confused. Scared. But physically fine, if that's what you meant." I sat up. "Listen, I'd really like to leave."  
>"I'm afraid we can't let you go outside, dear." Karla said. Phee's face turned pale as she took Yves' arm.<br>"We can't keep her here against her will!"  
>Will started to reply, but Yves assured Phee.<br>"Mom means because of the weather." He turned to me. "It's really not safe to go outside now, Linda."  
>"Not even to your house?"<br>"Not even such a small ride, sorry."  
>"Can I just get some time alone then?" I asked all of them in general. I really needed to sort out my mind and the best way to do it was alone. Well, the best way was going out for a run, but since I couldn't go outside...<br>"Of course, I'll take you to my room." Uriel took my arm and helped me up.  
>"I can take her." Will said, making me flinch. He saw it and looked hurt, making me feel bad. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I couldn't help it. Even though my body was telling me I could trust him, even still felt drawn to him, my mind couldn't agree just yet. I really had to think things through.<p>

As Uriel took me up the stairs, I asked him: "Now what is all of this about?"  
>"Short version?" He laughed, "I don't know how much to tell you without spooking you too much. But I guess you'll be spooked either way. We are savants, my entire family." He looked at me intently, awaiting my response. When I didn't say anything he continued. "We have gifts, all of us different gifts. The more general ones like being able to talk to each other without speaking – telepathy, but also moving objects – telekineses. And then we each have our unique gift."<br>"Like a special power?" I said, making him laugh out loud.  
>"Maybe, something like it." We got to his room and Uriel opened the door.<br>"You really don't know what all of this is about, do you?"  
>I sighed. "I really, really don't. I don't even know if I believe what you're telling me."<br>A pack of socks shot through the room, making me startle.  
>"Yeah," Uri smiled, "I did that. I'm telling you the truth, Linda."<br>I heard a loud noise coming from downstairs and turned around.  
>"That's Will," Uri told me, "He's mad dad won't let him go up."<br>"Why?"  
>"Because he wants to be there for his soulfinder."<br>"What is a soulfinder? You mean, like, soulmate?"  
>"Something like that. Let me explain that later. Listen. Take some time to think, but please, let me and Sky talk to you before you decide on anything."<br>Why did he want me to talk to Sky?  
>"I think Sky can relate to you. She didn't know she was a savant either."<br>"I don't think I am though, Uriel. I can't do telepathy or telekineses and I've never noticed some kind of power I should have."  
>"Just promise me you'll talk to Sky and me."<br>I caved. "Fine, I promise."  
>"Thank you, I'll be back in an hour?" I nodded and watched him leave the room, he closed the door behind him. I was about to sit down on one of the three beds when I heard voices in the hallway.<p>

"Let me go see her."  
>"You can't go in there Will."<br>"You want to re-think that comment, Uri?" Will's voice sounded like ice.  
>"Nope." Uriel didn't sound concerned at all. "She said she wanted some time alone and that's what I promised her."<br>"She's my soulfinder."  
>"But she doesn't know that. She doesn't know anything about us or our life. And she asked to be left alone, which I told her she could have. Zed tells me you'll only make things worse if you go in right now."<br>I didn't hear anymore talk but someone went down the stairs fast and hard, I guessed that was Will. Seconds later the sound of softer and lighter footsteps faded as well.

The hour went by too fast, I jumped up from a knock at the door.  
>"Can we come in?"<br>I opened the door and gestured for Sky and Uriel to come inside. When we all sat down, Sky started explaining.  
>"I'll try to keep it short," she smiled: "I had a rough childhood. I came to my parents when I was ten, I didn't know I was a savant or had a gift. Because of the things that had happened to me, I thought I was making the lights around people up – I can see emotions, yours are telling me that you're confused. But I can also tell that you are believing me, even though you doubt whether it can be true. I found out about being a savant when I met Zed. He is my soulfinder and he explained everything to me. I know how you feel, Linda. Not only can I see it, but I also know, because I went through it myself."<br>"But what is all that soulfinder talk?"  
>Uri answered me: "For every savant there is a match. A soulfinder. They could be born anywhere on the world, but they are linked to each other by their birthdays. Crystal's gift is to find soulfinders. She can also see the emotional connections people have to each other. Soulfinders don't always find each other, even though we know our other half exists somewhere on the world. But with Crystal, we know where to find our soulfinders. She told Will his soulfinder would be in The Netherlands, so he traveled there, but didn't find you, since you were here. If only he had known! Crystal could've told him, but they didn't keep in touch."<br>"You're telling me that I am destined to spent my life with Will. What if I don't want to? What if I fall in love with someone else?"  
>"It's not just about love," Sky said, "with your soulfinder, you can speak telepathically as well, but it's different. When you talk to your soulfinder in that way, you know. Zed makes me feel grounded. I can speak telepathically with everyone in this household, but Zed is like my gravity point. It's different, you'll feel it."<br>"All I feel is a head ache when he does that."  
><em>I knew you could hear me!<em>  
>As I heard his voice, it felt like a stab in the head again. Uriel was talking again, but I couldn't hear him.<br>_I knew you could hear me! Just say something in return, say something, anything._  
>A moan escaped my lips. "I don't know how to." I murmured. Uriel and Sky weren't talking any more.<br>_Just acknowledge that you can hear me._ I could see on Uri's face that it dawned on him what was happening.  
>"Alright, alright, I can hear you!" I practically screamed.<br>_Not like that, answer me like this.  
><em>"I don't know how to!"  
>"She's hurting, Uri." Sky said.<br>"I know, I think it's Will." He got up and ran down the stairs.  
><em>Come on, just say something back, just talk to me. <em>The headache became too much, I couldn't stand it any more.

_Alright!_ I shouted in my head. It felt like big walls were knocked over inside and the pain was gone.

I was astonished by how sudden my head felt right again. The pain didn't fade, it was just gone. And I felt peaceful, not just painless, not empty, but a peace and a calm overwhelmed me.

_Can you still hear me?  
><em>It didn't hurt to hear him any more.  
><em>Yes, yes I can.<br>What about the pain? It felt like a quake, like something fell free.  
>It did, I don't know what it was, but I don't feel any pain any more.<br>I'm coming up._ I felt joy coming through."Wow, you are lighting up!" Sky told me, "What happened?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Let me know what you think!**

**Chapter 9.**

Will walked into the room with Uri right behind him. He immediately came for me and grabbed me in a hug.  
>"I knew it would work."<br>I tried to make him release me, but he didn't notice. Uriel and Sky did though.  
>"Will," Sky said, as Uri put a hand on his arm.<br>"Oh," Will stepped back, "What's wrong?"  
>What's wrong?. He was right, I could hear him in my head, we could talk like that, but that didn't mean I was just going to happily fall into his arms and be his girlfriend. Not just like that. Relationships needed to grow.<br>_I can hear what you're thinking you know_. The message came with hurt. _You still don't believe it?_  
>As I looked at him, I could see flashes of colour coming my way as he spoke to me telepathically and my eyes widened.<br>_Wow._  
>"She can see the telepathy coming at her."<br>"Can you see it between me and Sky as well?" Uriel turned to Sky and talked to her. This time the colour was fainter, but I could see it, it was there.  
>"Yes, I can see that you're reaching out to her."<br>"It looks beautiful," Will squeezed my hand, it was all I could do not to pull my hand away. His eyes looked sad.

I was getting dizzy with all these things, all this new information in my head.  
>"I really need some fresh air." I stalked past Will and down the stairs. They all followed me. I went through the kitchen, thinking everyone would be in the living room. I was wrong, the entire family was sitting right there, turning at me as I rushed in. Without thinking, I turned around again. This time only Will followed me. He tried to take my arm, but I shook him off.<br>"Seriously! I need some time to myself."  
>"The snow..."<br>"I don't care about the snow!" I interrupted him. "I just need some time. Outside. Alone."  
>"I'm sorry, but I really can't let you go alone."<br>"Look. I promise I won't leave. I'll stay close to the house and I'll be right back. I'm just going for a walk." I opened the door and I felt panic seer through me.  
><em>NO! <em>  
>"It's not safe for you to go outside."<br>Saul showed up in the doorway.  
>"He's right. Will and I can sense danger. You're safe in this house, but there's a threat for you outside. Faint, but it's there."<br>"So you won't let me take a walk."  
>"Not by yourself." Saul said it at a pleasant yet determined tone, I knew I couldn't win.<br>"What if I walk with her?" Uri showed up in the hallway as well. Saul nodded and Will looked defeated.  
>"I don't want to talk," I warned Uriel as we walked outside. He didn't reply but let me lead the way. I kept to my promise and didn't go far from the house. All the information and thoughts whirled in my head, I didn't even know where to start. Knowing I wouldn't be able to put it all in place now, I had to decide which points would be focus now. The danger Will and Saul were talking about? I didn't have any idea what that would be about, so I let that go. The telekineses and telepathy I had seen and heard? There was no doubt those things were true, there wasn't really a good use for thinking about it too much. The soulfinder thing. I had felt attracted to Will even before I knew about it. And my body and mind were telling me this was a given fact. He was my soulfinder, whatever that truly meant. The last thing I didn't understand was why it had hurt first, Will trying to talk to me telepathically. Why didn't it hurt anymore? Victor and Xavier were talking about shields, calling me a barrier. I guessed the barrier had broken down now. Did that mean it wouldn't hurt me anymore if Victor did his thing, whatever it was he did? I sighed and wished that it wasn't the entire family Benedict there waiting for me. I had questions and wanted answers, but I didn't want to talk to all of them at once. I took Uri's hand and let him lead me back to the house.<p>

As we walked into the house, we heard voices in the living room.  
>"I know you're frustrated, but you have to give her some time. It seems that she knows even less than Sky did when she came to us."<br>"I just want her to trust me, dad. When she doesn't understand something, she looks at Uri. Going for a walk, she does with Uri. It's like she's afraid of me. She's my soulfinder, but Uri is treating her like she's his."  
>"That's not fair!" Both men turned as I came walking into the room, Uriel right behind me.<br>"You can't blame your brother for what I'm doing, Will. I've known you for three days, but I have known Uri for months already. So yes, whenever I feel insecure I look to the person in this family I know to trust. The fact that I'm your soulfinder doesn't automatically mean that I drop everything and come running to you. I don't know a single thing about you. Even when my body is telling me I can trust you, even though I feel drawn to you, that doesn't mean that it's that easy."  
>"It should be."<br>"Well, it's not. Maybe I'm too rational for it. I've been told and shown a lot of incredible things today and it's kind off overwhelming me. I don't even know if I can trust my own feelings right now." With that confession I felt the anger leave my body and I slumped down on the couch.

Saul looked at me with empathy.  
>"Okay, let's figure this out. Linda, we just want to help you, we all help each other in this family. And being Will's soulfinder makes you part of this family. We want to figure out why you had so much pain with telepathy. It's gone now, is it?"<br>"Yes."  
>"I know you don't like having everyone here looking at you, but dad and I think it could help. We'd like to call everyone in and try to figure out what's going on."<br>Uri smiled encouragingly and nodded, it didn't go unnoticed by Will, which made Uri look apologetic. I decided to reach out and touched Will's hand.  
><em>I'm sorry.<em>  
><em>Don't be, you're right, it makes sense, it's not your fault.<em>

"You didn't even have breakfast and it's almost lunch time. Eat something first." I hesitated and Will understood why.  
>"Uri, can you get her something to eat?"<br>Saul and Uriel walked out together and Uri quickly returned with a plate for me. He left me and Will alone.  
>"Eat."<br>After I finished eating, we were just sitting there in silence. Since he had found out I was his soulfinder, this was the first time he really let me take my time without saying or trying something. I felt amusement that wasn't mine seeping in as Will smiled at me. He knew what I was thinking.  
>"Can we talk first?"<br>"Sure, I'll let dad know."  
>I expected him to get up and walk away to find his father, but he stayed where he was and I saw a flash floating away from his head. He must've told his father telepathically then.<br>"What do you want to talk about?"  
>I didn't know what came first. Did I want to know more about Will, or did I want to know more about the situation I was in right now? Both were important to me, even though I didn't know if I wanted to believe the soulfinder thing, everything in my body was telling me that it was true. So I opted on asking about him first.<br>"What do you do for a living? What are your hobbies? What are your powers?"  
>"Gifts," he corrected me, "We call them gifts. Of course I can do the general things we all can, telepathy and telekineses, but my own gift is sensing danger. Dad can sense danger as well. My gift was telling me that you shouldn't leave the house on your own, even though the danger was still very faint, it was there. I live with Uriel and Victor in Denver. Trace and Diamond live there as well, but you already knew that. I work with them on the family business over there, but that's a little too complicated to explain right now, sorry." I could feel in my body that he wasn't lying. "Like all my brothers, I like physical activities, canoeing being the favorite."<br>"How about climbing?" I asked.  
>"Climbing isn't one of my favourites, I fell once. I could try again though, if you'd like to go climbing."<br>I felt at ease and relaxed in the chair. Getting to know him better was definitely a priority to me right now. I saw a light flashing towards Will, I guessed it was someone talking to him telepathically.  
>"Dad wants to know if you're ready."<br>"No. But it's going to be done anyway right? I want to know about all of it as well."  
>"We can wait until tomorrow if you want to."<br>"Best get it out of the way now."  
>He squeezed my hand and this time I didn't pull away.<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

** Chapter 10.**

As the entire Benedict family walked into the room, I felt myself growing more and more anxious.

"Dad, you really think we need full force?"  
>"Well, we don't know, do we? Best to get to the bottom of it at once though."<br>Will pulled me closer to him on the couch to make more room for others to sit. To my surprise, it didn't feel uncomfortable at all. I didn't even feel the nervous butterflies you would normally feel when you're around someone you're falling in love with. It felt completely natural, normal and as if I belonged there.  
><em>That's because you do. <em>  
>Everyone took a seat. Xav gave Will a pat on the head as he walked by and smiled at me.<br>"I'm Xavier and that's Crystal." He walked over to her and lifted her on his lap. "Come on, Cupcake, let's do this." Cupcake? I raised an eyebrow at Will.  
><em>You're not one for sweet little nicknames then, are you?<em>  
>I just shook my head at him, smiling. I felt something brush my mind and as I looked up I saw a flow of energy from Uri and Will glared at him. What was he doing?<p>

"Okay, let's..." Before Saul could finish the sentence, Will cut him off.  
>"I think Linda would be a bit more comfortable if we explained a little more about our gifts dad."<br>"He might be right," Sky nodded.  
>"Okay," Victor started, I could tell that this family was used to him taking charge. Noone seemed to mind that he did. "Trace can track things or people down, Diamond can resolve any argument, no matter how heated it is. Uriel can see the past," he skipped himself and Will, "Xavier is a healer, Crystal a soulfinder, Yves can control fire and Phoenix can stop time, well, make you think that time has stopped for a moment. Zed is the seventh son, which gives him more gifts than any of us, he´s got a bit of all of our gifts, but his most developed gift is seeing the future, just as mom can. And he can tie us all together so he can see the bigger picture, which is what he'll be doing now. You know about Sky, Will and dad. I can manipulate thoughts." I pressed myself a bit tighter to Will, almost everyone noticed my movement.<br>"Don't worry, he only uses it for good." Xav winked at me from across the room.  
>"Now that you're caught up," Saul began again, "We would like to use our gifts to find out more about you. Zed will tie us and see the bigger picture. We want to know what your gift is and why all this savant stuff is new to you. Even if you grew up with humans, you should've had some idea about you being different."<br>"How do you do it? Are you all going to read my mind?"  
>"No, it's not mind reading, and we will stay away from things you don't want us to see." Saul assured me.<br>_Trust us. Trust me.  
><em>I wanted to look at Uriel for reassurance, but it felt like this was the point where I had to choose. And I chose Will. I nodded at him and I felt his relief flowing through me.

Everyone held hands with each other. Most of the girls were sitting on the laps of their man. Will didn't hold hands with anyone but held on to me with both hands. Instead his parents sat down on either side of him and held him by his arm. Saul explained that this was the connection needed for everyone to be able to connect and for Zed to be able to see the bigger picture.  
>I felt a pounding at my brain and I gasped. Will immediately responded.<br>"Everyone stop." He looked at me. "Are you hurt?"  
>"No," I breathed. "It's not hurting, just uncomfortable."<br>"Let's try again."  
>Everyone concentrated again and this time I was prepared for the feeling. I felt that pushing sensation in my head again and as I looked around the room I could see flashes of their gifts shooting towards me. I felt Will reassuring me in my head that it was okay. Then Victor sighed, annoyed.<br>"This isn't going to work if you don't let your shield down, Linda."  
>"I'm sorry, what?"<br>"She doesn't know what you're talking about Vick."  
>Victor looked angry and I could see a flash from him to Will. Then I felt a push.<br>"Woah." _What was that? _Will was wondering what just happened. Well, so was I.  
>I tried to figure out what it was. Victor seemed mad at Will and I saw him sending power to Will, my instinct towards Will kicked in. Apparantly I had stopped it. Judging from the look Victor had on his face, I was right, he had hit a wall when trying to talk to Will.<br>_At least I know you'll protect me then._ I felt amusement coming from Will. How could he joke? I didn't understand anything that was happening and he was cracking jokes. My temper flared up, causing Sky to look alarmed, seeing her made me calm down immediately. It didn't matter right now, we were here for a reason.

"Okay, kids, what have we got?" It was weird and at the same time completely natural that Saul called this room full of grown, intimidating men kids.  
>"I didn't get anything," Uriel stated, "It was like hitting a wall, Vick is right, she's got a massive shield up."<br>"But it's different though, when I checked her earlier to see if she needed healing it was like she was one big barrier, now I could feel she had a shield in place." Xavier added.  
>"And you don't know what you're doing?" Saul asked me.<br>"I haven't got the faintest clue. I'm not doing anything."  
>"Then you're a shield."<br>"But I'm not..."  
>"Not delibirately, it's your gift. You must be a shield."<br>"That is what happened a minute ago, you were shielding me from Vick." Will said.  
>"She projected her shield?" Saul asked him. "I haven't heard of any untrained savant who can do that."<br>I suddenly felt proud, it wasn't my own pride though, it was Will's. He was happy I was that strong.

As I saw a light go from Saul to Will, we both felt it hit the wall again.  
>"Uhm, dad, I can't hear you anymore. Her defenses are still up."<br>"Yes, I got that much." He turned to the rest of the people in the room, "Anyone else stopped by the shield?"  
>"It seems to be mental. I could sense her physical state, but not her mental state." Xav started.<br>"I can see her connection to Will." Crystal added.  
>"I can see her colours fine, I've always been able to." Sky said.<br>"Same for me," Zed tapped Sky's hand, "I've seen her future actions sometimes, like this morning when she wanted to leave."  
>"I've been able to see her energy in other rooms," As Yves said this, Phee began to giggle, and then said: "I can't even reach her mental pattern."<br>Trace was the last to comment.  
>"I think I could track down objects that she has touched, because of the energy. But I don't know if I could track <em>her<em> down if needed."  
>"So definitely a mental shield it is." Will circled the space between my shoulders with his hand and I leaned back into him. I was feeling really tense. I still didn't know about half the things they were talking about. And somehow, apparantly, I had Will under my shield now as well.<br>_It's okay, we'll figure it out._

"Let's call it day." Everyone stood up at this comment from Saul. Suddenly I remembered it was Thanksgiving Day, I felt exhausted already and wondered if I could sit through a family dinner right now.  
><em>No family dinner. <em>Will assured me._  
>But it´s important to your mother.<br>_Karla stood up and started giving out orders again. "Yves, go fix us some quick pasta, Uriel will help." She pointed to her other sons, "Plates, cutlery, drinks." As they got an order from her, they all left the room to go do as she said.  
>"I'm so sorry, Karla."<br>"For what, dear?" She looked very surprised at my apology.  
>"For ruining your dinner, I know you made plans."<br>"Well, dear, Thanksgiving dinner isn't that important, we got another soulfinder added to the family, that's what's important here."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11.**

The next day Saul tried to connect with Will through telepathy, to see if he would be out from under my shield again. As Victor grew more frustrated, Will became more pleased with the result. Saul wasn't able to reach his mind. And since I didn't know what I had done to get him in my shield or even how the shield itself was held in place, I couldn't help either.  
>"It's a good thing, you know. It's how we compliment each other."<br>"Compliment each other?"  
>"Yeah, soulfinders have this special connection, but their gifts combined are powerful as well. Phee can stop Yves' fire if it get's out of hand. And because Crystal's telepathy works on a different wave-length as ours, she gets physically sick around our normal kind of telepathy, Xav can heal her from it. And the two of us; I can sense the danger and you protect us from it."<br>I liked the sound of that.

Various members of the family sat down with me to try and figure out how my shield worked. Sky had tried to see it, but she couldn't, she said that part of the shield was that it hid himself. Victor tried to break through my shield with blunt force, causing Will to run into the room. Even from the other end of the house, Will had felt the invasion on the shield. He got mad at Victor and told him to stay away from me. Saul explained that it wasn't Victor trying to hurt me, he was just the most practical one and did whatever he felt necessary. Even though the shield didn't even budge, him trying to get through it didn't feel right and I became even more afraid of Victor.

By lunchtime I was feeling mentally exhausted. Everyone kept forgetting Will was under my shield and different people kept trying to talk to him telepathically. My shield had had to endure pushes all morning and I was getting annoyed. When we sat down at the table, Zed spoke up.  
>"I think you should take Linda up the mountain, Will."<br>"Great idea, I'll come as well." Xav immediately said, earning him groans from more than one person at the table. "What? It's the only chance I'll get at skiing, we're leaving tomorrow morning!" As Crystal looked at him, his expression changed, like something dawned on him and I noticed I couldn't see their telepathic communication like I could see the other's. It must be because they were on a different wave length, as Will called it.  
>"Just go to the west side," Zed told Xav, "You'll be good there."<br>"I don't know," Will started, "I think Linda should rest, she's pretty worn out."  
>I couldn't help but feeling irritated. Being soulfinders made us share our emotions and thoughts, even more so because he was under my shield, but that didn't mean that he magically completely understood me. Whenever I felt mentally tired, I would go and work out. Have a run, climb a wall, exhausting myself physically made me feel better. He didn't know that, because he didn't know <em>me.<em>  
><em>You're right. I don't know you. Yet. Let's go out then.<em>

"Can we run?"  
>"Zed cleared a path this morning." He gestured to his right. "Over there."<br>Without waiting for him, I started running. I knew he would keep up with me, all Benedict brothers were in good physical shape, I wouldn't be able to outrun either one of them.  
>When we got to the end of the path, I saw the path ended at a skiing area. This looked to be the easy part.<br>"Do you ski?" Will asked me.  
>"I've done it a few times, but I'm not that good."<br>"Maybe we could do it together this winter."  
>"Sounds like fun," I smiled.<br>We walked to a bench and sat down. The snow made these mountains look beautiful, everywhere I looked it was white. I felt calm again, for the first time in two days. When I shivered, Will scooted over to sit closer to me, putting his arm around me. He was absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous. Was the part where he was finally going to kiss me? He chuckled. _Finally, huh?_ He leaned his head in and his mouth touched mine. It felt like electricity going through my body, it felt new and special, but at the same time it felt familiar, as if we had been kissing a hundred times before. I reached out and threw my arms around his neck. My body was getting colder, but I didn't register it, I was too focused on Will. He lifted me up with ease and put my on his lap, leaving my lips untouched for only a brief second. I drew back to look at him, cupped his face in my hands and kissed him again. I could feel that the fire holding me, was running through him as well. Neither of us wanted to let go. His hands went up my back and that made my coat go up a bit, giving my goosebumps. He immediately drew back and pulled my coat back down. Will looked just as amazed as I felt. I also felt a bit shy now, my reaction was pretty fervid. It was nice to finally just have some peace and sit in silence. I didn't want to talk about being a savant, gifts, our soulfinder connection or my shield. Will seemed to understand.

"So... I finally kissed you?"  
>"Well," I blushed, "yes. Why didn't you kiss me that evening we had dinner together? I thought you would."<br>"Well, I wasn't going to kiss a girl when I knew I was already taken."  
>I pulled away from him. "You have a girlfriend?"<br>"No!" He pulled me back into his arms. "I don't. I didn't. But Crystal had seen you. She had told me my soulfinder would be in The Netherlands. I didn't want to kiss you, because I really liked you. I didn't want to lead you on. If you hadn't been my soulfinder... Well... I have dated girls before. But I wasn't going to fool around anymore. I was waiting for my soulfinder."  
>I had accepted the soulfinder thing. I had accepted being a savant. And even though I still felt his explanation didn't fully explain it, I let it go. Instead I though of something else.<br>"If Crystal can see your soulfinders, why haven't Victor and Uri found theirs yet?"  
>"Crystal can tell you where your soulfinder is at that moment. So when she told me where you were, she could tell me you were in The Netherlands. Like Uri, I decided to go and look for you, see if I could find you. I bet that if I had called Crystal, she could've told me you had left for America. But I didn't call her and – of course – she wasn't constantly looking where you were.<br>Uri's soulfinder is in Africa. He went to look for her, but didn't find her. He's been twice now."  
>"Why didn't he call Crystal?"<br>"He does. But his soulfinder seems to be on the move. Everytime he reaches a place Crystal tells him to go, there's no one there. We haven't figured out what it is yet."  
>I shivered and Will got up.<br>"Let's head back."

"What about Victor?" I asked as we started down the path.  
>"Victor is just too practical. He says he can't leave the job to go and find his soulfinder. He knows she's in Afghanistan. And based on what Crystal said, he knows it won't be easy to get his soulfinder. So he's waiting until he can actually take time of from work."<br>I thought I could've guessed that. Victor really, really didn't seem like the romantic type. But then again, neither did Uri. Uri was nice, sweet, but also practical. I had come to know him as someone who saw what needed to be done and did it. I was glad I had found Will, well, maybe he had found me. And even though I saw him as practical, I could easily imagine Uri with a soulfinder as well.  
>As we almost reached the house I wondered how I would feel after this weekend. I only knew him for less than a week but I already felt lonely thinking about having to go back to the university and not being around Will.<br>_You're not going anywhere._ He thought it with reassurance, but that was not what I felt.  
>"What do you mean I'm not going anywhere?"<br>"You're staying here of course. Mom will fix you a room after the rest of the family is gone tomorrow."  
>"I can't just stay here. I've got things to do at the university. I can't just drop everything and stay here."<br>We had reached the house now and were standing at the back door.  
>"Of course you can. I did. I already quit my job in Denver."<br>"You did what?" Unbelievable!  
>"I quit my job in Denver. Dad's hiring me for as long as I need a job here. We can figure out where to go together after we've figured out all of this."<br>"All of this?"  
>"Yes. You, finding out you're a savant, you have a lot to learn and we can teach you. And I'm not letting you go anywhere until I find out what this danger towards you is."<br>_Let_ me go anywhere? Was he serious?  
>"You think you can just tell me what to do?"<br>I opened the door and stalked through the kitchen, not concerned about the people looking at me. Will followed closely as I went up the stairs.

"Where are you going?"  
>"I'm cold, I need a shower."<br>He kept close to me and looked startled as I spun around to face him, making him bump into me. I pushed him back.  
>"I just need a shower. I need some time to myself. Please leave me alone."<br>As I closed the door, he began to talk to me telepathically. I guessed he didn't want to make an even bigger scene with his whole family in this house, being able to hear us.  
><em>Listen, my first priority is to keep you safe. And I can't do that if you go off on your own. <em>  
><em>Leave me alone.<em> I moaned.  
><em>I just want you to understand.<em>  
><em>Fine. I understand, please leave me alone now.<br>Linda...  
>Leave. Me. Alone! <em>I didn't say one word aloud, but physically I felt like I had screamed. It was quiet in my head now and I felt like a band was surrounding me. My best guess was that I was actually feeling my shield now. It seemed to be connected to the anger and frustration I was feeling. I was so focused on the feeling, trying to adjust to it, that I barely registrered the gasp I heard on the other end of the door.  
>"Dad!"<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

** Chapter 12.**

"Dad!"  
>A door opened and footsteps came towards the bathroom.<br>"What's going on Will?"  
>"I can't hear her. I can't feel her. I can't reach her."<br>"So she pushed you out. Crystal does that to me all the time." Xav sounded careless about it.  
>"Maybe, but Crystal isn't a new-found savant, who happens to be a shield, with no idea of how to use her gifts, is she?"<br>I could hear Xav was more serious now, even though he still joked. "I'm sure she's fine. She's just finally gotten enough of you."  
>"Not funny, Xav." Saul said as he came walking up the stairs. His steps stopped at the other end of my door and he knocked on it. "Are you okay Linda?"<br>"What if something's wrong with her?"  
>"Really, Will? What do you think happened, the shower curtain attacked her?"<br>"Xav." Saul snapped, his usual calm voice sounding sharp now.  
>"Linda, if you don't answer, I'm going to kick in this door." Will almost had a full-on panic attack. I sighed, with frustration as well as exhaustion. I didn't even know if I could keep him out, it strained me.<p>

_Fine._ _I'm fine. Now can I just please take a shower without everyone hovering over me?_  
>Will's relief washed over me.<br>"She answered me. Nothing's wrong. Let's go down."  
>Xav and Saul start asking Will what happened, but I didn't pay attention any more. I finally got to take my shower in silence.<br>It helped. I still felt on edge, but the water calmed me down a bit again. As I walked out, Will came walking up the stairs. As he saw me he raised both hands.  
>"Just want to take a shower myself. Mom made you some snacks in the kitchen."<p>

Karla handed me a plate and I took a seat at the kitchen table. Phee and Yves were sitting on the other end of the table and Xav was standing at the counter, talking to Victor. Karla sat down beside me.  
>"Would you like to stay in Will's room or would you like another one? Will thought you might feel more comfortable in his room."<br>I looked at her but didn't answer. What was she talking about? I turned to Phee and Yves who were both watching me as well.  
>"What do you mean Karla?" I turned to Phee; "Aren't we going back to your house? The snow has cleared enough hasn't it?"<br>"We're going home tonight, but Will thought you might want to stay here."  
>"I'm sorry, but I don't think so, I don't belong here."<br>"Of course you do dear, you're our daughter now."

What? For the umpteenth time in just a few days I felt like I wanted to flee. I got up and headed for the door.  
><em>Don't go out on your own!<em> Will didn't want me to leave. Victor positioned himself in front of the door but Xavier looked at me.  
>"Let's go."<br>I walked out and Xavier followed me.  
>"I promise I'll be quiet."<br>And for a few minutes he did. I was really getting sick of this situation. I didn't know what was happening and all of them were telling me things I didn't agree with. Will tried to tell me what to do and where to go. His mother as well. Victor was really getting on my nerves. Uri seemed to be avoiding me today, I'm sure Will put him up to that. Karla calling me her daughter. As if I didn't already have a family! And every single time I wanted some time to myself, one of the Benedict brothers kept following me because Will sensed some danger surrounding me. I believed him but at the same time it was hard to believe. Why would I be in danger? It didn't make sense.  
>"You know, we all just mean well. We just want to help you. And with people leaving tomorrow, we just want to try and find out things quickly."<br>"Didn't you promise me you would shut up?"  
>"Yeah, but..."<br>"Shut, up, Xavier."  
>"Woah, just Xav, only my mother calls me Xavier. Well, Crystal as well, but only when she's..."<br>"Xav." I interrupted him.  
>"Right. Quiet it is." He made a gesture as if closing his mouth, but I didn't pay attention. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking either. Which was why I didn't see a low branch hanging and it hit me in my face. It burned, but even that I didn't really register because of my anger.<br>"Let me look at that."  
>"No."<br>"Really, I can just..."  
>"No, Xav."<br>He backed away and respected my privacy. When I got to the end of the trail, I saw the bench Will and I had sat on earlier today.

I sat down and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself. All this time Xav didn't say a word. After a while I felt the bench shift a bit as Xav sat down. I opened my eyes and looked at him.  
>"Here, take my coat, you must be cold."<br>Now he said it I realized he was right. I hadn't put on a coat and was feeling cold. I still didn't want his though.  
>"No thank you." At least I managed to be polite this time. Xav stretched out his hand and touched my arm, gasping a bit.<br>"You're freezing! Please take my coat." He got up from the bench and put the coat on my shoulders. I shook it of and stood up as well, my anger fully flared up again.  
>"Can't any of you Benedicts take no for an answer? Do you need to order me around and tell me what to do? Are all the other girls just fine with that? Because I am not! I don't like to be told what to do. I can make my own decisions and I'm sick and tired of you all treating me like a child!"<br>I was kind of hoping he would shout back at me. I was in the mood for a good fight. But Xav surprised me by stepping towards me. He didn't say a word, but caught my arm. The tears of anger I had in my eyes begun to run freely and I leaned into Xavier. He now really pulled me into his arms and let me cry.  
>My eyes were red and puffy and I had a headache – again –, but it had felt good to just cry it out. Xav looked at my face and put his hand on my cheeck. It started to feel warm and my headache went away. I knew he must've healed the cut I'd got from the branch as well. I took his coat without complaining about it and we headed back to the house.<br>Will was waiting outside for us. I wondered why he hadn't come running to me when I was crying but remembered that he wasn't under my shield anymore. Maybe he had communicated with Xav about it.  
><em>Yeah. Xav said it was best to just leave you. I wanted to come though. Was Xav right? <em>  
><em>Yes he was, I'm sorry.<br>You have nothing to be sorry about._ He assured me. _We should be sorry, you're right. We tend to look at a problem and want to solve it without consulting first. We act, then think. We'll include you more. No, not more, it's your call from now on. _  
>I walked up to him, smiled and hugged him. With a small groan Will lifted me up and kissed me. When I turned around, Xav was gone.<br>"We should go inside. Dad has an idea."  
>Not letting go of me, Will turned us both around and opened the door.<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13.**

Will pulled me on his lap before I could sit down on a chair. But I didn't mind at all, I didn't want to let go of him either. I cried in Xav´s arms because Xav was there, but it made me recognize even more that I really wanted to be with Will.  
>"Can you try to remember how it felt when you pushed Will out of your shield?" Saul interrupted my thoughts and I tried to focus on how it had felt.<br>"I don't know, it just literally felt like I shoved him out."  
>"Like a physical push?"<br>"Yes, I think I'd describe it like that."  
>"Can you focus on the shield part of it? How did the shield feel when you pushed him?"<br>I thought back, trying to remember what I felt. I never even know the shield existed, it was a part of me. Trying to feel it was almost impossible.  
><em>Don't focus on trying to feel the shield now, try to focus on what was different when you pushed me out.<em>  
>That helped and I remembered there was a difference in how it felt. I just didn't know how to explain it to them.<br>_Try to make it into an image, that should help. _  
>I immediately saw an house with an open door.<br>"It felt like opening a door and closing it again." This helped me to describe how it felt to keep him out as well. "Keeping him out felt like I had to forcefully keep the door shut to him. I didn't want him to come back in." _Sorry. _I added to Will, he squeezed my hand.  
>"Do you think you could try to open the door again? We think that if you can open the door again, maybe we could see this time."<br>I understood in which direction this was going.  
>"You want to do another circle with the family?"<br>"We think we should at least try."  
>"No way!" Will said, "She has been through enough. We can't put her through that right now."<br>"We can't wait Will, everyone is leaving tomorrow. You know they would stay if needed, but it doesn't seem necessary right now, so they want to leave. They've got jobs to get back to." Saul looked at me, "But only if you are okay with it."  
>I could feel Will's emotion, the want to protect me.<br>_You said I would decide from now on._  
>He knew I was right and nodded.<p>

"Vick is going to talk you through it. As you know, he can manipulate the mind a bit. He won't manipulate you!" Saul quickly added after seeing my face, "but he can help you to stay focused so you will be able to let the shield down long enough for us to try and read you."  
>Last night I sat next to Will, as close as I could, but now he pulled me on his lap. I didn't mind at all. Everyone was in the same position as yesterday. Victor started to talk to me.<br>"Dad says you described it as a house. Visualize your shield as a house and try to open the door. It might have some locks on it, but you can get through those. The door might need pushing, but that's just your mind trying to tell you the door won't open. It can open and it can be easily opened by you. You control the shield, you can make it do whatever you want it to do."  
>I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, trying to visualize a house. Within seconds I felt myself panicking. Will felt it as well.<br>_Focus on my breaths._  
>I listened to him and made my breath follow his pattern of breathing.<br>_Visualize the house._  
>I saw a house in my mind as Will squeezed my arm.<br>_Look at the door and try to open it. Like Vick said, it _is_ easy to open it. You can do it.  
><em>I looked at the house and focused on opening the door.  
><em>Good. Now keep it open, so...<em>  
>I felt the door snap shut again as my eyes opened just as fast. Victor had talked to me telepathically. He looked annoyed now.<br>"You have to keep it open for us to..."  
>"Back off Vick."<br>_This isn´t going to work. Not with him in my head._  
>I felt ashamed admitting it, but it was true. Victor still scared me and the idea of him in my head...<br>"It's okay," Will touched my cheek, "I'll guide you through it."  
>I saw him sending a telepathic message to Victor. Victor didn't seem to like it, but accepted it anyway.<br>"That went well, let's try it again." Saul said cheerfully.

I focused on Will's breathing and his instructions again and managed to open the door again. This time Victor didn't talk to me telepathically, but Zed did. It surprised me for a bit, but it didn't scare me like Victor had.  
><em>This isn't enough, just opening the door. I can see the bigger picture, just opening the door allows for one person to look at a time. To make it faster, you should blow the roof off, that will open your shield up completely. <em>I could feel the smile that came with his comment.  
>Will helped me to concentrate and I focused on the roof. I took Zed's advice and blew it off at once.<br>"Put it back up!" Will's voice was full of panic. The roof snapped back in it's place and I looked at Will. But he wasn't looking at me, he was talking to his father.  
>"Did you feel that?"<br>"Yes, I did." Saul replied.  
>"What are you talking about?" Victor demanded to know.<br>"When she fully opened her shield, she became in more danger. We have to stop."  
>Victor sighed. "If we don't do this, we won't find out anything more."<br>"Didn't you hear me? It. Put's. Her. In danger. We're not doing it."  
>Victor started talking but I interrupted him.<br>"Yes we are." I poked my finger at Will's chest. "I say we do it. Like your father said, people will be leaving tomorrow. And I want to find out as much as I can about myself before they leave."  
>"But it's..."<br>"A calculated risk. Not doing it, means we find out nothing. If I am in danger, maybe finding out more about me, can help in finding out more about what the danger is. If we don't know what the danger is, how do you think to keep me from it? Just hide me away here?" I shook my head. "Not gonna happen, Will. I say we do it. And we do it now."  
>"Hear, hear," Xav muttered, earning him a stern look from both his mother and Crystal.<p>

For the third time that evening I focused on my shield. Now that I knew what to do it was almost easy to concentrate and blow the roof off. With no interruption this time, the shield stayed open and I could sense the other people around me. I could feel Will tensing up at the danger he felt was there. I felt Uri brushing my mind as he looked for my past. I felt the friendship connection I had with Phee and even Sky. I couldn't see, but I could feel how Zed kept it all together and how he saw the bigger picture, I was curious to find out what he was seeing. And after a few minutes, it was him who spoke to me.  
><em>Make Will happy, close the roof.<em> As I closed the shield, I looked up to see Zed winking at me.  
>Just like last night, Saul asked what everyone had seen. This time, instead of everyone taking turns, Zed summed up the total of what he saw.<br>"Nothing special in her childhood, it looks and feels like it's a loving family. Who's the red-headed woman holding you as a baby?" He asked me.  
>"She's my aunt. I never even knew her, she died when I was three months old."<br>"She seemed important." Karla said.  
>But I didn't know or get how or why she would be. She wasn't a part of my life.<br>"Anything about the danger, Zed?"  
>"No, dad, I can see her immediate future, she's safe here. I don't see the threat coming and I didn't get a clue about it from reading her now."<br>Will sighed, disappointed and frustrated.

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	14. Chapter 14

**It has been way too long since I updated. But I was just really stuck. The first conversation in this chapter, I had it all written out, perfectly. And then I realized some of the things in the conversation would give me trouble in the story later on. So I had to edit some stuff out. Which took me really long, I got stuck at trying to fix it. And I'm not completely satisfied yet, but going to post it anyway ;-)**

**Chapter**** 14.**

The next morning I noticed Victor was missing at the breakfast table.  
><em>He took a night flight to Denver. I didn´t think you´d mind if we didn´t wake you up to wave him off.<em>  
>He was right about that. I didn´t mind at all, knowing Victor wasn´t here made my shoulders relax, I hadn't even noticed he was making me tense up that much.<br>"Mom, relax, we won't be late. We still have an hour before we have to leave and we've already packed everything." Karla was fussing over all the other people leaving today.  
>Saul grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to the chair next to him. "Sit down, sweetheart."<br>I took an egg from the bowl and started peeling it.  
>"When are you going back home, Phee? I need to get some last-minute work done before Monday." Phee eyes shot from me to Will, she looked uncomfortable.<br>"What are you talking about dear?" Karla asked, "I already prepared you Will's room, so you can stay here."  
>I must have looked stunned.<p>

"What? I can't just stay here and not go back to the university."  
>"Of course you can, Vick already arranged it before he left." Karla stated it like it was a good thing.<br>"What did you do?" I asked Will.  
>"You didn't tell her?" Uriel raised his voice, "Vick wouldn't have arranged it if he knew you hadn't told her."<br>I doubted that. Victor seemed like the person who wouldn't care what I'd think about it.  
>"When were you going to tell her?"<br>"This afternoon, after..." Will paused, "...everyone left."  
>"Tell me what?" I looked at both men.<br>"You can't go back to the university."  
>"Why is that?"<br>"I can feel you're in danger whenever you leave this house. Whenever you leave my side. I can't let you go back there. You won't be safe."  
>Most of the people at the table were trying not to be listening to our conversation, but I really didn´t care. Trace said something about a last-minute check for the bags and he and Diamond got up.<br>"I have school work, obligations."  
>"I can't protect you there. I can feel that you're safe here, but as soon as you're out of the shield, there's danger."<br>"_I_ am the shield, am I not? What shield are you talking about?"  
>"The safety shields we put around the house. We protect the house with our gifts. If you leave, you won't be shielded anymore."<br>"So shield me over there." I said.  
>"Too much ground to cover, and we would need one of us there to maintain the shield."<br>"I'll be with Phee."  
>"Phee can't do it." Will glanced over to her and added: "Yet."<br>"I'm not staying here."  
>"You still don't trust my gift? I am never wrong, you'll be in danger if you go back to the university."<br>_You're not listening to me. I'm not staying _here_. I trust your gift. I trust you. But I'm not staying here at your parents' house._

I saw flashes going from Will to Phee and back again. Will nodded and Phee spoke up.  
>"You can stay at our place. It's always shielded."<br>"But we won't be there honey." Yves told her.  
>"That's why I'll be staying there as well." Will said.<br>Karla gasped. "You can't do that. It's not appropriate."  
>"Xav and I are living together, Karla." Crystal said.<br>"Yes. And you shouldn't be." Crystal opened her mouth but Xav spoke up before her.  
>"Okay, Cupcake, let's go check our bags."<br>"Our bags are fine."  
>"Humour me." Xav got up and gently pushed Crystal towards the door. I was thinking about what Will had just said. I didn't want to stay here with his parents. Karla was great, but she was already a lot to take. Being in the privacy of Phee's house was very appealing. But being there with Will? Well, even more appealing. But did I really want to do that? It felt like taking three steps all at once instead of going one step at a time.<br>"Mom, we stayed there together before."  
>"With other people present."<br>"It won't make a difference, you know that. And even if you think you don't know it, you can still find out and know." Will was referring to Karla's ability to see the future.  
>Zed gazed off. "They will be fine, mom."<br>"I know that," she replied, "And I also know I won't be able to change your minds on this."  
>"Well," Saul got up, "We need to get everyone to the airport." Everyone else got out of their seats as well and headed outside to say their goodbyes. I got up and started stacking up the plates, taking them to the kitchen counter. I wasn't really close to the people leaving, so I thought I'd give them the family time.<p>

"You aren't going to wave me off?" I spun around, plates almost slipping out of my hands.  
>"What is it with you Benedict brothers that you keep on giving me scares?"<br>"I'm sorry." Uri walked over and took the plates from me.  
>"You're leaving for Denver?"<br>"No, I'm leaving for Africa. Again."  
>"Oh." I really didn't have a better response ready.<br>"Crystal and I figured out a new plan. This time I'm not coming home before I find her." He smiled. "I wanted to ask you..." Uri paused.  
>"Ask me what?"<br>"Why did you give in so easily just then?"  
>"Give in?"<br>"Yeah. You were upset that Will arranged for you not to go back to the university. And still you easily agreed on it."  
>"I was told we are savants. I was told we have gifts. And that would be hard to believe... But... I am a shield, apparantly. And I felt it. I felt people trying to get through my shield. I hear Will inside my head, you saw my past, Sky very accurately describes my feelings. How can I not believe that all of those gifts are real? And if they are real, then so is Will's. I might not agree on it, but I do believe that if he tells me I'll be in danger, that's true. And if I believe him, I have to act upon that. It wouldn't make sense to still just run towards the danger. I don't understand it, but I do believe it. That's why I 'gave in'."<p>

I sighed.  
>"What is it?" Uri asked.<br>"I wish you weren't leaving."  
>"I can stay, do you need me to stay?" He was really serious, but I couldn't let him do that.<br>"Of course not Uri, you have to go."  
>"I'll be back soon."<br>"You don't know that." I retorted.  
>"Yes, I do. The plan Crystal and I have is solid. I'll be back soon. And kick Will's butt if he doesn't treat you right."<br>We both laughed and Uri pulled me into a hug. I walked him out to the car. Zed and Saul were both driving a car to the airport. Everyone hugged and Karla shouted some last-minute advice through the windows. As the cars drove off, just me and Will were standing there, Karla had ran inside to get the phone, she still needed to tell Xav something. Will put his arm around me and kissed me on my cheek.

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	15. Uriel

**Author's note. **If you're a writer you might find this familiar: Uriel wouldn't leave me alone. I wanted to continue Linda's story. But I already knew what was going to happen for Uri. And I just had to write it, because I couldn't get further with Linda and Will. I could write an entire story about Uri and his soulfinder, but I'm not going to do that, this is just one chapter. It will stay just one chapter ;-) But it is -almost- the entire story in one chapter, so it's not as fleshed out as a full story, it's fast-paced. But I had to get it out of my system and here it is. So now I can get back to writing Linda's story :-D

Please, please let me know what you think!

Uri's POV.

**Uriel. **

I felt guilty as soon as I hugged her goodbye and stepped into the car. I saw Will putting his arm around her and kissing her on the cheek. I knew he'd take good care of her, but still, she was really like a sister to me and I wanted to protect her. Even from Will, if needed. Xav seemed to know what I was thinking.  
>"She'll be fine, Uri."<br>Yeah, I knew that. But I knew she didn't want me to leave, so I couldn't help but feel like I left her hanging. Staying would've made things worse between me and Will though. I knew he didn't like me and Linda being so close. He was glad to see me gone. We usually can shield our thoughts and emotions from each other really well, but Will wanted me to know he wanted me to leave. It took her three times before I realised Crystal was talking to me.  
>"Do we need to talk the plan through? Is there anything we haven't thought about?"<br>"No, I think we covered it all," I smiled at her. "I'll call you as soon as I land and then I'll go searching."  
>"It will work, you will find her." Crystal said.<br>I knew she felt a bit responsible for the fact that I hadn't found my Soulfinder yet, but of course it wasn't her fault. My soulfinder was just difficult to find, constantly on the move apparently.

When we arrived at the airport, my dad and Zed parked their cars and walked in with us. Our planes were leaving at different times and mine was last. When the rest was gone, Zed, dad and I were standing in the hall.  
>"You don't have to wait, just go home." I told them. Zed just made a 'hmpf'-sound.<br>"We are going to wave you off, son," dad said, he looked at his watch, "It'll be half an hour, go get us some coffee Zed?"  
>"Very subtle, dad," I laughed, as Zed stalked of for the coffee.<br>"Good, so you know I want to talk to you." he looked very serious. "Is there something going on between you and Linda?"  
>I was genuinely shocked. "No! Of course not! What?"<br>Dad looked relieved at my response. "I'm sorry I had to ask."  
>"Dad, we're just very close, but there's nothing going on. We just instantly liked each other a lot and we e-mailed a lot, got to know each other really well. I can honestly say I see her as a little sister."<br>"Will was concerned. I'm glad he doesn't have a reason to be. And I really didn't doubt your intention, but, well, I had to ask." He paused. "Uri, take care of yourself in Africa. I know you want to and have to do this, but I'm not entirely liking it."  
>"Don't worry dad, mom and I will keep an eye on him from here." Zed handed me and dad our coffee.<p>

As soon as the plane landed, I took out my phone. Crystal had told me to go to Gauteng airport and now I needed to know more specific where to go. unfortunately I still had a long way to go. I rented a car and went on my road trip, only stopping at hotels for much-needed sleep. Every day Crystal would check in with me, calling me to give me new directions or to tell me I was still on the right track. And now I felt guilty towards her as well; she was almost constantly looking for my soulfinder now, to help me find her. I knew she didn't mind doing it, that she wanted me to find love as well, but that didn't change the fact that it took up a lot of her time.  
>I was traveling around for two weeks when Crystal called. I was almost at the place she had told me to go and I sighed before I answered the phone. I assumed she was going to give me new directions again.<br>"She's near you! If you talk to her now telepathically, I think she could hear you."  
>I dropped the phone and parked the car on the side of the road.<br>_Can you hear me?_ No response. _Can you hear me? I'm looking for you.  
><em>And then she answered.  
><em>Yes! Yes I can hear you! I just can't leave. I can't come to you. Can you come to me?<em>

I grabbed the phone - "Thanks Crystal!" - and shut it off, started the car again and followed other directions, this time given to me by the voice in my head. I hadn't met her yet, but I already felt grounded because of that voice. A lot of feelings came along with that voice. The realisation that I had finally found my soulfinder struck me and I always ran the car of the road. All the time, _she_ was talking to me and telling me where to go.  
>For the last bit I had to leave the car, I just left it on the side of the road and ran towards where she directed me. To find a small group of people, looking angry at me.<br>"It's okay, papa, it's _him_." I could hear her say it, but that voice sounded beautiful.  
>One of the older men commented in the African language and looked at a woman. She wasn't looking at him, but at me. She wasn't speaking – telepathically or normal – but I knew this was her and I took a step forward.<br>A man held out his hand and kept me from walking any further. He was talking African as well, I didn't understand a word of what they were saying.  
><em>They won't let me go, but you have to take me with you. I don't want to stay here.<em>  
>That was enough for me. She had talked to her father in English, so I knew they would understand my language.<br>"I came to meet my soulfinder." No one responded. I walked past the arm the man was still holding in front of me and repeated my comment. Her father gave in.  
>"Very well, you will be our guest at dinner."<br>She was sent to one side of the camp and I was escorted to the other side. The group had set up camp at this place.  
><em><br>My father is just seeming polite. He'll never let me go with you. The man who stopped you is my fiance. But I don't want to marry him. _I could practically hear her sighing in my head.  
><em>We'll think of something. <em>I assured her.  
>I introduced myself to her father and talked with him. He was the only one talking English. The rest of them kept talking African and ignored my presence, except for the man who was supposed to marry my soulfinder. I wasn't going to let that happen.<br>At dinner her father formally introduced us.  
>"This is my oldest daughter: Sanura." She stepped forward and nodded at me, seeming a bit distant. "Now," her father said, "why did you come for my daughter?"<br>"She is my soulfinder."  
>"She has already been given. I can not undo that." He tried to look like he felt for me, but I could tell he wasn't honest about it. "There's nothing I can do for you here."<br>"Do you not know how important a soulfinder is?"  
>"Yes." The man replied, "I do, but my wife isn't my soulfinder. We have good life. You should not have come looking for us. You have given my daughter a false idea."<br>Sanura spoke up but her father spoke a few harsh sounding words in African, causing her to step back and be quiet. I stood up.  
>"I see I should not have come. I am sorry for taking up your time. My car is not far from here, I'll just go to the nearest village and stay there for the night."<br>The man looked a little surprised I gave in this quickly.  
>"I see when something is a lost cause." I shrugged.<br>_I'll be back. Keep in touch with me and tell me if you're leaving this place._  
><em>That won't work,<em> she told me, _we have a savant in the tribe whose gift it is to sense other people coming for us. He sensed you every time you came, which is why we were on the move so much. _  
><em>Then I'll just take you with me now. I hope you can run.<em>  
>Before she could even register it and I felt the surprise through our bond, I already ran for her. When I took her hand to pull her with me images of her past came up, but I pushed them away, it had to wait. We ran for the car, got in and I drove off. Her fiance and some other men had followed us to the car, but they didn't have a car themselves, the group moved by foot and some carts pulled by horses. I saw her fiance was the first to get on a horse to follow us and I stepped on the gas harder.<br>"You're like, a tribe?" I asked Sanura.  
>"Yes, we are."<br>Sanura told me what turns to take and soon we were on the road again. It would take some time before we would arrive in a big city, the tribe lived out in the open. I took my phone and turned it back on, I had 6 missed calls from my father. I knew it would be somewhere around night for him now but called him anyway.  
>"Uri, what's going on?"<br>"Dad, I can't explain right now, but am I still in danger? I need to know."  
>"No, son, you were in danger. And it was a big danger, but it's gone now. Are you coming home?"<br>"We're coming home." I answered and I ended the call. Mom would be very excited about this.

I had a few more calls to make, I tried Vick first. I needed him to pull some strings so I could get Sanura into the country, but Vick didn't answer his phone. So I called Yves, who couldn't do much for me.  
>"Maybe Trace can use some of his connections, but you should really call Vick about this, he has the worldwide connections Trace doesn't. I can get you tickets and I might be able to tweak some data, but I'm not entirely sure I can get her into the country."<br>"What are my options Yves?"  
>"Marry her." He tried to make it sound like a joke, but I knew my brother well enough. It was our best option. But would Sanura be willing to marry a man she just met?<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 15.**

I was already feeling uncomfortable. Yves and Phee had just left for the university again and now Will and I were alone. I could feel relief coming from him, he wanted to be alone with me. But I didn't really know what to do now or what he expected of me. It was late and I was tired, Phee had stayed as long as she could. Yesterday was nice. I got to spend time with Phee alone, Will and Yves did some stuff around the house. It was good to talk to another girl, about the feelings I had. About everything that happened. Even though she had always known she was a savant, she could at least relate to the feelings I had about the Benedict family.  
>"I think I'm going to bed." I turned around for the stairs, but Will grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him. He held me tight and kissed me with so much passion I felt my knees go weak. But Wills firm grasp kept me standing. He pulled back and I sighed a little, causing him to chuckle lightly.<br>"You didn't think I'd just let you walk away, did you? We're finally alone." We both walked up the stairs to my room. "I'll be just across the hall if you need me." He gave me a small peck on the lips and we both walked into our rooms. This was going to be uncomfortable, exciting and very interesting.

The next morning, when I wanted to talk about everything that was going on right now, Will grabbed my hands and looked me in the eyes.  
>"Please, give me five days. I'll tell you all about being a savant, I'll run with you, walk with you, whatever you want. But for five days, don't worry. Don't think about it. We'll decide on a game-plan next weekend. But just give me – give <em>us<em> – these five days to really get to know each other."  
>So that's what we did.<p>

For those five days we didn't do much. We went for some runs on the clear paths, Will taught me to ski a little. During the day we would be outside and in the evenings, after I had cooked dinner, we stayed in to talk. About everything. He told me how the other girls had joined his family. I had spent a lot of time with Sky and Phoenix but at that time they couldn't tell me everything about their lives, they didn't want me to find out they were savants. Will made me see even more that they are a really close family. The men who weren't living here all came home when Sky needed help. And when Yves was in England half the family came there as well for Phoenix. Will assured me that if needed, they would come back to help me as well, with whatever was going on. The latest adventure had been right before Trace and Diamond had gotten married, that's when Crystal discovered her gift and found Xav as her soulfinder.  
>I told Will all about my family. My twin brother, Mark, my younger brother Robert. Being part of a twin made Mark and me really close and talking about him, I realized I really missed him a lot.<br>Will confessed he wasn't as much into physical activity as I was, I'd probably still have to go on runs with Uriel. But Will did have the condition for it, he could easily outrun me.

On Friday afternoon we went into the house to find Yves cooking. Will almost looked sad at seeing Phee and his brother, we both knew we were really going to have to find out what was going on now.  
>Yves and Zed had taken up teaching me some basics; telekineses and telepathy with other members. They couldn't talk to me telepathically yet because my shield wouldn't let them through and Yves suggested I'd keep a bit of it open. Will didn't like the idea but Yves had really thought it through.<br>"You think of your shield as a house. When everything is closed, no one can get in. When you open a door, a connection can be made and when you blow the roof, it's entirely open. What if you just take a small window, or a brick? Anyone who doesn't know the opening is there, still can't go through your shield. They could find it if they go poking around for it, but if you take a really small piece of your house, you can close it up before they find it, because you will know that they're poking around for it. But the people that do know the opening exist, can communicate with you telepathically. It would help a lot."  
>After this explanation Will saw the sense in it and even got enthusiastic about it. So with Yves I focused on trying to leave a small opening in my shield. Zed was more patient than I would've thought. I knew he was very sweet with Sky, but still, he wasn't a warm, open personality. Will explained to me it was because he could always see everything. I felt more sympathetic towards Zed after that. He was still a hard teacher though. Like he said himself; he wasn't going to cuddle me, he wanted results.<br>I was surprised at how fast I learned. Within a week I could let things fly through the air and communicate telepathically with people other than Will. The only things I had difficulty with was expanding my shield and creating that small hole Yves had suggested. I still had to open doors to communicate telepathically and it made Will nervous everytime. He could feel the danger getting bigger everytime I did it. His dad and he thought it must be because someone is looking for me. I didn't know what to make of that, it didn't make sense at all, why would someone be looking for me? We didn't get any further with knowing anything about it, there was nothing useful to go on. Will just wasn't going to let me out of his presence. As I was learning a lot about the savant world and my gifts, I didn't press it for now.  
>After some time I found out I could feel the people around me. In the stores, I could feel the strangers around me, but in the house, I could feel if Will was close to me or maybe upstairs. I couldn't explain <em>what<em> I exactly felt, but I could sense everyone. Sky had a bright kind of energy, Zed was a bit more dark. Will just felt light. I could identify the people around me by feeling them around my shield. If Phee and Yves would be walking up to the house at Friday, I could sense them before Will even knew they were there. Saul thought it was because I was getting to know my shield really well now. I could feel it, open it at certain spots, let Will in and out. Part of the shield was sensing the people around me.

"Are you awake?"  
>I sat up and let out a small scream before I realized it was Will's hand on my shoulder.<br>"What time is it? What are you doing here?"  
>"I'm sorry to wake you up like this, Linda, we need to go my parents house."<br>"Now?" I wasn't catching up quickly, my brain was still a bit foggy.  
>"Yes, I'm sorry, I'll explain, I promise. But please, just put on a coat and come with me."<br>Will turned around and walked out of the room.  
><em>I'll be waiting at the door.<em>  
>As I quickly grabbed a sweat pants, I glanced at the clock, it was 3 in the morning! What was all this about?<br>"Why are we going to see your parents in the middle of the night?" They would probably be asleep anyway.  
>"They'll be awake."<br>"But why, Will?"  
>He looked at me but quickly focused on the road again.<br>"Uri is in danger."  
>"What?"<br>"I can sense he's in danger. I know dad will have sensed it as well."  
>Half of me started panicking; Uri in danger! And still, the other half stayed calm and started to think logically.<br>"How do you know that?"  
>"I told you, I can sense it."<br>"Yes, but he's so far away, how can you sense it?"  
>"Zed and mom's ability to look into the future becomes less reliable the closer the connection is. Right now, they would be able to see your future pretty accurately, but Sky's future is more difficult, because the emotional connection is more tight. For me and dad, being able to sense if someone is in danger, becomes easier the closer the connection is. I can sense Uri being in danger because he's my brother. And it woke me up. If it woke me up, then it surely will have woken dad up, he's got even a closer connection with Uri."<br>I thought about Uri being in danger, I didn't like the sound of it at all, as I'm sure Will or Saul would either. But what could we do about it? Uri is too far away to help him...  
>"When something bad happens, we come together. We're going home, not because we can actively help him at this moment, but because that's what we do. We get together and try to find ways to help. Maybe Zed has seen something, it's not likely but he could have. Or maybe one of the other brothers knows something, they would've called dad."<p>

As we approached the house I saw the lights were on and even before Will turned the car off the door opened. Zed let us in and we went to the kitchen. Karla and Saul were standing, Sky was sitting at the kitchen table. Will walked over to his dad and Karla grabbed me in a hug.  
>"It is so nice of you to come dear."<br>"It's not like I had a choice." I muttered. Karla was to preoccupied to notice my comment, but it earned me an angry look from Zed. I looked at him apologetically, I just didn't have the best of moods right after waking up.  
>Sky patted on the chair next to her, I sat down and we both watched and listened to the rest of them talking.<br>"I already called him, he has turned of his phone." As Saul was saying that, his face turned pale.  
>"Vick!" Will exclaimed.<br>Karla started asking what they meant, but Zed just took both Sauls and Wills hands, let go again and took his phone. He threw it on the counter with a grunt.  
>"Not answering either." Zed said.<br>I carefully opened a door in my mind, trying to talk to Sky.  
><em>What are they talking about now?<br>Vick is in danger as well,_ she answered, _but we don't know what danger.  
>They can't be in the same danger, right?<br>No, it's probably about Vick's work. He get's threatened a lot on the job._  
>I yawned and Will walked over to me.<br>"Let's go sit in the living room," he suggested to the others. We all sat down and Will pulled me close to him. I could just feel the worry for his brothers radiate from his body.  
>I woke up again from Will's hand stroking my hair, my head was on his lap and he looked down at me, smiling.<br>"Uri is okay, dad already talked to him, he's coming home."  
>I felt relieved but almost immediately slipped back into sleep, before I remembered.<br>"What about Victor?"  
>"We don't know yet."<br>The third time I woke up that night was when I felt Will lifting me up the stairs.  
>"Vick's alright, he called."<br>He put me down in a bed and turned to leave, but I grabbed his wrist. He looked at me with half a smile and I felt him laying down beside me.

**Please review :-)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 16**

Yves and I were practicing in the garden. Will didn't like it and he couldn't look at it without interfering or distracting me, so I had send him inside. Phee went with him to get some lunch ready. Yves shot small fire balls at me and I tried to deflect them. He had full control over the fire balls and I felt completely certain that nothing would go wrong. Practicing my gifts took up a lot of time and I was beginning to get bored with certain aspects of it. Even though I knew I still had to perfect them, they just weren't any fun. I was done with letting fruit fly through the air. Which was how Yves thought of his fire balls. Will got furious at Yves the first time he caught us outside. But I pushed through. It was fun. As soon as I deflected a fire ball it would fade out.  
>When we heard a car coming, I felt who it was in my shield and I turned around in surprise. Yves shouted a warning and I felt a burning sensation. It was warm, but didn't reach my body. Will had arrived at the outside door just in time to see what had happened.<br>"Your shield stopped the fire ball." He looked shocked. "So, at least to some degree, your shield is physical as well."  
>"Good to know." Yves sighed.<br>"What distracted you?" Will asked.  
>"Uri's here." I replied. Will stiffened a bit but soon relaxed. I was curious to know what he was thinking and without consciously making the decision to do so, my shield opened up and let Will in. Whenever he was inside my shield, he couldn't hide any thoughts from me – or I from him. With normal telepathic communication he could decide what he wanted me to know, what he wanted to share.<br>The first thing I sensed was that he felt kind of hurt; because I didn't trust him to tell me himself. The second thing I sensed proved me right for doing it though; he was still a bit worried about Uriel. Well, Uriel and me. I knew for a fact that there wasn't any doubt for him about my love for him. He wasn't afraid that I would want Uri. But he also remembered the way I had clung on to Uri when I first found out about being a savant and having a soulfinder. He still didn't like that I had relied more on Uri. And Uri being back brought with it some insecurities.  
>"I'm sorry." I muttered and let him out of my shield, right as Uri launched through the door.<br>"Linda!" Uri swooped me up and grabbed me in a big hug. He stepped back a bit without letting me go, checked my face and smiled wide. "I missed you."  
>"I missed you too, Uri." I said as I released myself from his arms. He let go at my first hint of struggle and turned around to reach back.<br>"Meet Sanura," He said, "My wife."  
>Yves and Will didn't say anything, Phee exclaimed: "Congratulations!" as she elbowed Yves in his side. Since I was still the one standing closest to them, I took a step forward and kissed Uri first, then shook Sanura's hand and kissed her on the cheeks as well. Will started laughing and Uri looked confused.<br>"Mom will be furious!" Yves joined in on Will's laughter.

Phee passed around a plate of sandwiches as we sat down in the living room.  
>"Why did you come here first? Mom won't like that you didn't go straight home." Yves told Uriel.<br>"I know," he said, "But Vick's home."  
>"So what?"<br>"He's not alone."  
>"He brought home his soulfinder?" Yves looked shocked.<br>"Yep. The family's complete."  
>"So, tell us everything that happened Uri." Phee said.<br>"Alright." He took Sanura's hand and smiled at her. "I kept to the plan Crystal and I had made. I went to Africa and called Crystal, she told me where to go. Crystal kept on looking in on Sanura and called me whenever she saw Sanura changing location again. After a few weeks Crystal called me and said I should be able to communicate telepathically with Sanura. And I could. Sanura told me where to find her.  
>She was living in a tribe of savants. She is the oldest daughter of the leader and he had engaged her to a man already. Since she is the oldest daughter, the marriage would make her new husband the next leader. But Sanura didn't want it. Her father knew that, but he didn't care. The marriage would make the tribe stronger.<br>One of the savants of the tribe is able to sense people coming for them, he sensed that I was looking for someone in their tribe. So every time I got close, the tribe would move further away. But they travelled by foot and a few horses. I was traveling by car and caught up to them quickly.  
>When I had found them, Sanura telepathically told me she wanted to leave so I took her with me. We were faster than them and went to the airport. I tried to call Vick, so he could help me with his connections. I needed to get Sanura away from there. Vick didn't answer his phone though, so I called Yves. Who, unfortunately, doesn't have the great connections Vick has, he could tweak some data, but there was no way I could get Sanura into the country without Vick's help. Needing to leave soon, we thought of the quickest solution: marriage."<br>"It was very romantic." Sanura interrupted him, causing all of us to laugh.  
>"Not really." Uri looked at her lovingly," I wished it would have gone differently. But anyway, we married and left for America. Even married, it could prove to be a problem to get Sanura into the country, but I was hoping I could reach Vick. At the last stop before heading to America, I managed to reach Vick. He was able to help us out and we got here safely.<br>Vick was on his way home as well, he was already in America. So he would be home sooner than I was. That's when he told me his soulfinder was with him. Instead of going to mom and dad immediately, we thought Vick and Robyn could maybe use some time alone with them first."  
>"Or you wanted Sanura to have a calm welcome into this family, before meeting mom?" Will asked.<br>"Yes, that too."  
>"You can stay here, Will and Linda are sharing a room now, so we've got a room left." Yves said cheerfully. I felt my cheeks getting warmer, Will stroked my arm and Uri looked at me sideways.<br>She said she was tired so Uri showed Sanura were she could get some sleep. When he was back downstairs he came over to me.  
>"Ready to take a walk?"<p>

We really didn´t go somewhere, we just walked around outside. For the first few minutes in silence. With learning all the new things, I hadn´t had the time to realize how much I had missed him. But I had. And it was great to just walk in silence with my best friend.  
>"How have you been?"<br>"I learned a lot about myself. My gifts have grown and so have the abilities I have with my shield. I can sense people whenever they come close enough to or in my shield. I knew you and Sanura where there before anyone had seen you. They heard the car, but I could feel in my shield it was you. I just found out this morning that apparently my shield is in some way physical as well, I had my back turned to it, but the fire ball Yves had thrown at me was stopped by it."  
>"A fire ball!" Uriel interrupted me. "Why was he throwing fire balls at you!?"<br>"For practice. I was deflecting them, I got tired of throwing fruit around the house. Will doesn't like it either. After the first two times of him watching, I make him go inside now, or get groceries done. I can control my shield now, let Will in or out whenever I choose to. I have a brick removed, like Yves suggested, you could talk to me telepathically now as well."  
>"I'm glad your gifts are doing this well." He stopped walking. "But I'm asking how <em>you<em> have been."  
>Uncomfortable, I took a second to think about my response.<br>"Will has been taking good care of me. He hasn't done anything you would disapprove of. Your mother is very caring and welcoming. And Yves and Phee have been giving me all the time I need. Your family is making sure I have everything that I need."  
>Frustrated, he just said: "Linda…"<br>"Okay, okay, I don't know. I'm upset, still. I have tons of questions. I don't know how I am a savant, but my family is not. I want to know if my parents know anything about it at all. I was supposed to go home for Christmas, my parents saved up some money so I could go. I know that I really like – and love – Will, but I still have trouble understanding how it can be that it works that way in the world. It doesn't feel like a normal falling in love, because it isn't. Instantly, he loved me, just because I'm his soulfinder. It wasn't that way for me. I know I love him now, but I haven't told him that yet, because I feel insecure anyway."  
>"But you sleep together."<br>"Yes, we _sleep_ Uriel." Why were we talking about this? I didn't feel comfortable at all, but I knew that even with Phee, I wouldn't be talking about this. I tried to will the redness from my cheeks, sighing.  
>"I still feel bossed around. I like to make my own decisions, you know?"<br>"I know, Linda."  
>"And he won't let me. I get why, but it doesn't change a thing."<br>Uri pulled me into another hug.  
>"Feel better?"<br>"Much."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 17**

"Didn't you tell Will any of this?" Uri asked me as we went back to the house.  
>"I tried. Will has been great. He has been getting me outside to run and doing a lot of physical things, because he knows I need to. But he keeps shutting me down whenever I ask about what to do next. I know he has been talking to your dad about it. They haven't got a clue about what the danger could be though. It seems to be Will's plan to keep me here for as long as possible."<br>"Do you want me to talk to him?"  
>"No, thank you. I'll talk to him myself."<br>Uriel opened the door for me and we went inside. He went upstairs to Sanura and I kissed Will lightly.  
>"Can we practice some more Yves?"<br>"Oh no, no more fire balls for you." Will stated. "It could have hit you."  
>"Apparently my shield is set on keeping me safe."<br>"Still, no more playing with fire."  
>I decided to let it go, after the emotional outburst I just had with Uri, I didn't feel like fighting right now.<p>

We had taken the afternoon to get to know Sanura a bit better. After dinner Uriel wanted to go to his parents. The rest of us wanted to join, so we could meet Robyn.  
>Karla reacted as we all thought she would, she made a big fuss over Sanura and Uri. I noticed he didn't introduce her as his wife and grinned at him. Zed and Sky were present as well. They all stayed in the kitchen while we went to the living room with Victor and Robyn.<br>"Tell us what happened Vick." Yves asked.  
>"I went to Afghanistan and I got her out of prison, then took her home."<br>"Care to elaborate a bit more?"  
>"Not really, mom already questioned us all afternoon. I'm glad you all came when you did."<br>"So I take it you didn't get married right away like Uri did?" Will said.  
>"Of course not!"<br>"Victor." Robyn spoke quietly as she put a hand on his arm. I wouldn't have thought it, but it worked. Victor closed his mouth.  
>"What do you want to know?" Robyn asked us.<br>"Everything of course," Phoenix said, "How did he find you? How did he get you out? Where are you from and how did you get into prison in the first place?"

"My parents are both savants, both in the military. Because of that, we moved around a lot, all over the world. I have seen a lot of countries and can speak a lot of languages. As I got older, I knew I wanted to join the military as well. I began training and my gift proved to be very helpful for the military."  
>"What is your gift, then?" Will asked.<br>"I can solve puzzles. As long as I have all the facts, I can connect the dots. I see the connection where other people don't see it. It helped solve a lot of things. The military just thinks it's intuition though." She smiled. "I was sent to Afghanistan to go undercover. Victor knows why, but I'm afraid I can't say anything more about it. After some time, they found me out and captured me. They didn't want to kill me, because they thought I might be of use. So they kept me in one of their prisons."  
>"Why didn't anyone from the military come and free you?"<br>"That would have had effect on the entire operation. There were more people undercover, they tried to help me in secret, but they didn't succeed in getting me out."  
>"Vick coming to get you didn't ruin the operation then?"<br>"I was supposed to be there, Yves. Can't tell you why."  
>"But still, getting her out, didn't that ruin whatever you were there for?"<br>"No."  
>Yves and Will knew Victor wasn't going to say anything more about it, so they didn't ask more about the subject. I guessed none of us would ever know any details.<br>"What are your plans now? Are you staying for Christmas?" Phee asked.  
>"Christmas is a week from now, I took some time off from work."<br>Yves and Will exchanged an amused look at this comment.  
>"So we're going to stay here for the week." Victor continued. "I think we'll stay until the third of January and then get back." He turned directly to Will. "We need to talk about the apartment."<br>"I don't know what Uri wants, but I'm not going back there, so if it's up to me, you can have it."  
>"What do you mean, you're not going back?"<br>"I quit my job there, Vick. I don't know yet what I'm – we're going to do, but I won't be going back to the apartment either way."  
>"I thought you leaving was temporary."<br>Whatever Will said to him telepathically, it worked, Victor let the subject go. Robyn decided to clear the air a bit.  
>"Well, I've been inside this house all afternoon, care to show me around outside?" Victor got up and they headed for the door. Phee and Yves went with them and Will pulled me to his lap, my face towards his.<br>"You know, I can never go too long without kissing you." I leaned in to kiss him, fully agreeing with that statement.

With only three days to go until Christmas, we started preparations. I was able to talk Karla into letting me take care of the desserts for the dinner, arguing that since there were two other girls now, I certainly couldn't be seen as a guest anymore. She exchanged an amused and at the same time knowing look with Will. I knew they both were happy that I had accepted my place in this family. Karla tried to get Uriel and Robyn to stay at their house as well, but Uriel bluntly refused, wanting the relative rest of Phee's house for Robyn. It was still 3 couples staying in Phee's house, but that was nothing compared to the 4 couples staying at their parents' house. And it would be even more crowded when Xav and Crystal would arrive. Xav's schedule didn't allow him much time off. Sanura was very easy to get along with. She was open and funny. I could see she really was the perfect match for Uriel.  
>Diamond and Trace had already showed up as well. We had our own December traditions in The Netherlands and it didn't involve presents at Christmas. But Phee and Diamond took me shopping to get some gifts as well. I didn't have much money, so I just bought something for Will, Karla and Uriel, hoping that the rest wouldn't be offended about not getting a present from me. Phoenix tried to get me to use some of her money but I wouldn't take it. I asked Diamond to distract her for a bit and managed to secretly buy something for Phee as well.<br>I got to spend more time with Uri than I would have guessed. Sanura didn't mind at all and Will tried to pretend not to mind. I could talk most freely with Uri. He understood me and supported me, though he kept pressing me to talk to Will about all of it. Ventilating to him and getting all the physical movement I wanted made me less on edge, so I felt it could wait for now.

Xavier and Crystal arrived on Christmas Eve, just as we were about to open the presents.  
>"Hey, what's this? A party without me?"<br>With the little reservations he usually felt, Xav hugged both Robyn and Sanura. Karla slapped him with a towel.  
>"Sit down, Xavier." He rolled his eyes and jumped away from her, earning him laughs from the room.<br>Saul and Karla started handing out the gifts from under the tree and no one wasted time, but all started unpacking. Karla said she adored the scarf I got her. Phee thanked me for the board game I had gotten her. "I don't know how you managed to get that without me knowing!"  
>Uriel didn't make a fuss but just held up the cooking book I had bought for him, raising an eyebrow at me. <em>You think I need it?<br>You don't? _I responded with my eyebrow raised just as high.  
>The hardest had been Will. I didn't want to buy something cheesy, but I didn't feel we were together long enough yet to get something really meaningful. With the help of Phee I had settled for getting him his favorite after shave. He laughed and handed me his gift in return. It was the companion perfume.<p>

Before I got into bed, Will took my hand.  
>"I wanted to give you this as well."<br>"Another present?"  
>He nodded.<br>I opened the little box and it contained a beautiful bracelet.  
>"You can add charms to it later if you want to."<br>"I see. But it's also beautiful the way it is. Thank you."  
>As I looked up, his face was closer than I expected it to be.<br>"I love you, Linda."  
>I didn't hesitate; "And I love you."<p> 


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

There was a peaceful silence between us and I didn't want to ruin that. As I sighed again, Will sat up and looked at me, asking without words.  
>"I want to go home."<br>"No."  
>As I expected, his answer came fast and commanding, he wasn't even going to consider it. We had argued about it before, but this time I wasn't going to let it go.<br>"I have to."  
>"I can't let you."<br>"I want answers Will. Your father said that it's very rare that a savant is born into a human family. And when that does happen, it means that there has to be at least one ancestor who was a savant. I have to find out."  
>"What if they don't know?" He asked.<br>"But what if they _do_?"  
>Will sighed and lay back down on the bed, not looking at me.<br>"Listen, I know. You've told me a couple of times now. You can tell that there will be danger if I leave. But, you also said that the danger is getting bigger anyway, even if I stay. I'd rather go and face it."  
>"I don't think that's smart. We should stay here and make sure we're in the best position to face it, what or who ever it is."<br>"The best position would be to know what's going on. Going home might get us some answers. You wanted me to stay and learn; I learned. You wanted to get to know each other; we know each other. Your mother wanted Christmas; Christmas is over. I am going home."  
>Part of the reason I was so determined was because I knew Uri would back me up on this. We had talked about it a lot and he had kept telling me I needed to tell Will. Last night during our walk I had told him I was going to bring it up with Will today. He promised me to help convince Will if needed. I hoped it wouldn't be needed though.<br>After a long silence, Will sat up again and held my face in his hands.

"Linda..." His voice was hoarse.  
>"I know." I whispered. And I did know. I had admitted to myself and to him that I loved him. The feeling I got from even thinking about him being away from me or in danger scared me. I didn't want to be without him anymore. I knew how he felt about this.<br>After another long silence he nodded.

"Alright, when are we going?" Uri said cheerfully.  
>"Wait, if Uri is going then so am I!" Phee exclaimed.<br>Yves shot an angry look at Uri, followed by an worried look towards Will.  
>"Don't look like that!" Phee punched Yves' arm.<br>"I just don't know-" Yves started, but Uri cut him off.  
>"Of course it's a good idea, Phee could be very useful. And so could you, you two should definitely come! Does that mean you're buying too?"<br>"I would buy either way, you know that." Yves said casually.  
><em>Family emergencies, the only time that no one minds Yves paying for everything.<br>I wouldn't exactly call it an emergency.  
>Yet.<em> Will added

Karla had to make a fuss, especially because of Sanura leaving just a few days after arriving, but Saul told her to calm down. If everything went according to plan, we would be returning before New Year's Eve. Victor and Robyn had already left, something to do with Victor's work. The evening before they left Will asked Robyn if she could tell something about my situation, but she said there was a piece of the puzzle missing. In order to solve a puzzle, she still needed all pieces. Will had turned to Sanura, but she couldn't give any answers either. Like Zed, Sanura could see into the future. But for Zed, the more connected he was to the person, the harder it was for him to see the future. Sanura had it the other way around; she needed a close bond to someone to be able to see their future.  
>It seemed Saul and Zed were the drivers of the family, they took us to the airport.<br>Before boarding the plane, Saul took me apart from the rest, assured me he agreed it was the right thing to go to my parents to talk, but also urged me to be careful. I hugged him and thanked him.  
>In the plane I sat next to Sanura. She was a quiet person and I hadn't talked to her much yet. She spent most of her time alone with Uri. And when Uri would take time with me, she would either go out on her own or stay in their room by herself. Uri had assured me she genuinely didn't mind. But none of us knew much about her yet, she didn't open up that much.<p>

"Maybe we should go in the morning?"  
>"No way!" I told Will. "It's not that late yet, I want to go see my mom."<br>Now that I was this close to home, I really didn't want to wait another night, it was only nine thirty. And even though I was experiencing some jetlag, it wasn't that bad.  
><em>Maybe not for you, <em>Will added to my thoughts,_ look at them though._  
><em>They can go to the hotel, we'll meet up with them there.<em>  
>Because Will didn't notice any difference in danger, he agreed with me. It would be better anyway, not bringing such an invasion to my parents house right away.<p>

As we parked the car in front of the house, a light already went on in the hall. My mother always made sure she knew what was going on outside. So, as we walked towards the door, she already opened it.  
>"Linda!"<br>"Mom!" I ran the last few steps and hugged her tight, a few tears escaped my eyes.  
>"I've missed you."<br>She started talking in Dutch.  
>"What are you doing here? We weren't expecting you home. And who did you bring?"<br>"Let's go inside." I nudged her arm and gestured for Will to follow us in.  
>"Why are you home so late? Did something happen?" She kept asking me questions.<br>"Mom, relax," I laughed, "I'll explain in a bit, where's dad?"  
>"He's working in the shed. Sit down," She said to me and Will.<br>Only then did I realize my mother and I were still talking Dutch.  
><em>Sorry.<br>No problem. _Amusement and happiness flowed through our connection.  
>As we sat down on the couch I switched to English again.<br>"Mom, this is Will, he's from America, we have to speak English."  
>"Is he your boyfriend?"<br>I decided to try and see if she knew anyhing right away.  
>"He's my soulfinder."<p>

Her hesitation was barely noticable.  
>"Is that a new word for soulmate then?"<br>"No, mom," I spoke my words with more emphasis now, "My soulfinder."  
>As the silence grew, I gasped.<br>"You know!" My voice sounded accusing.  
>"I'll go get your father."<br>Before I could stand up, she was out of the room. I wanted to follow her but Will held me in place by holding my arm.  
>"She knows!"<br>"I know, but she's getting your father, she's not running away. Just wait until she gets back. Let's hear what they have to say."

All this time I had still assumed that my parents knew nothing about this. I assumed they would be just as shocked as I was. But I knew for a fact now, that my mother knew exactly what I was talking about. And the look on her face didn't show just surprise or shock. She had looked scared. And really for the first time since Will had told me I was in danger, I felt scared myself.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20.**

My father shook Will's hand before hugging me. I was almost too impatient to wait until after introductions.. My mother said something about making tea and left the room again. I didn't want tea, I wanted answers. My father started some smalltalk with Will about the weather. I cut through them.  
>"Where's Mark?"<br>"He has a girlfriend, he's with her, he'll be home later tonight," My father answered.

"Rob is asleep?"  
>"Yes, schoolnight."<br>My mother came walking into the room holding a tray and a book, the whole tray seemed to shake a bit. Will stood up.  
>"Here, let me help you with that."<br>He took the tray from her as she smiled gratefully.  
>After everyone had tea, the silence in the room grew uncomfortable. My mother and father exchanged looks. I saw the book and recognized it.<br>"My baby photos?"  
>"Yes," My mother answered, "It's best to start at the beginning right?"<br>Now that the silence was broken, she seemed to have no problem to continue. She took the book, opened it and showed the picture of me and my aunt.  
>"This is your mother." She said.<br>What? My mother? It took me a moment to be able to talk again, my voice a bit hoarse, so I had to clear my throat twice.  
>"What do you mean?"<br>"I mean, I am not your mother," She gestured at my father, "We are not your parents."  
>"Please explain, mom."<br>She looked at my father and he nodded.

"Alright, I have to start at the very beginning, when you weren't born yet. I grew up in a savant community."  
>I drew in a sharp breath and she smiled.<br>"I'm guessing you know all about that now."  
>I nodded, but she didn't notice.<br>"I'm not a savant, no one of my family is, but I grew up in a community where there were a lot of savants. We knew what they were and it was a peaceful community. Growing up, I didn't think it was strange at all, I just knew some people were savants and some people weren't.  
>When I was 12, a new family of savants came to live with us. They had two daughters, Anna and Christine. I quickly became friends with the youngest of the two, Anna. Her gift was binding. She could tie things together. Physically, she could fix any broken thing. She was still young, experimenting with the things she could do mentally. Once she bound an aching pain I had in my entire arm to just my hand. After a year or two, Christina had a fight with her parents and left, she didn't return, Anna's heart was broken.<br>When we were around 16, we both met boys. I had known Nico since I was little, but I had never looked at him in a romantic way before. He had a friend, Steven, and we decided to double date. Nico as human like me, Steven was a savant, he knew whatever a persons intentions were. It wasn't like reading minds, but if someone was going to do something good or wrong, he could sense that beforehand. He knew for a fact that _something_ would happen, but he didn't always know what would happen, he did get an idea about it though. And not once did we see him being wrong. After a few dates Anna told me she was falling in love with Steven. She explained to me about soulfinders and what it meant. She also knew that Steven was not her soulfinder, but she was sure that she could be happy with him. What were the odds of her actually finding her soulfinder?"  
>Will's hand flexed around mine and I knew we were thinking the same thing; being happy that we found each other. I waited for my mother to continue.<br>"We both were happy and in love. Nico and Steven were very good friends and it was everything we wanted. Best friends, both couples, Steven and Nico were running a business together. Both men proposed and we had a double wedding. And little over a month after I found out, your mother found out she was pregnant too."  
>My tea had gone completely cold, but I didn't care, I didn't want it anymore. My mother did. She took a sip of her tea and grimaced because hers was cold as well. I was glad she didn't go and get new tea, but just continued to talk.<p>

"That was when Christina returned. Anna was delighted, her sister was back! But Steven wasn't so happy about it. At first I got a bit mad about that, I didn't understand, how could he not be happy for Anna? It was the first time we ever saw Stephen and Anna fighting.  
>Because I urged him to do so, Nico took Steven out for a drink to talk about it. I went over to Anna. She was 5 months pregnant and instead of being happy with the pregnancy, she was the unhappiest I had ever seen her.<br>Anna started crying and told me that Steven didn't like Christina. Not only did he not like her, he knew she was going to do something bad. I never knew what happened between Christina and her father or what was the exact reason she had left, but to Steven it was clear that Christina had returned to take revenge. Anna didn't want to believe it and told me that Christina was trying to get a close realtionship with her again. Christina wanted to truly be sisters again. Anna felt like she had to choose and she didn't want to. She didn't want to face the fact that Steven had never been wrong before.  
>Steven and Anna kept fighting, their marriage wasn't going to last. I knew from Nico that it broke Steven's heart as well. Steven and Anna were both giving up.<br>Nico and Steven went on a business trip and Steven never came home. Nico came home mad and had to tell Anna how Steven had found his soulfinder and decided to be with her instead. Neither of us could understand how he could just leave his wife and child like that.  
>Anna seemed very calm about it. Of course she wasn't happy about his choice, but she seemed to understand. She was 7 months pregnant now and Christina moved in to take care of her. Anna got isolated, we heard very little from her. Mark was born and she didn't even come to visit. We didn't forget about her, but Nico had to run the business alone now and I was busy with a newborn baby.<br>And then, when Mark was 1 month old, Anna showed up on our doorstep in the evening."

My mother had to stop talking now, tears had been swimming in her eyes the entire time. My father patted her hand.  
>"It's alright, I can do it."<br>Will shifted next to me, pulling me even closer to him and my father continued. Instead of talking from memory and with emotion like my mother did, he just stated the facts.  
>"Anna told us she had overheard Christina talking about taking revenge on her father. Now that Anna was within her grasp and the baby seemed to be a powerful shield, she said the time was now. Christina was certain Anna would be at her side. Anna found out Christina wasn't alone, like she had thought all this time. Christina was surrounded by a group of savants. One could sense gifts in others; he knew the baby was a shield. One could see connections; he knew Anna was emotionally closely connected to Christina. One could find soulfinders; Anna found out that Christina was the one who had sent Stevens soulfinder to him. Another one could identify savants; whenever she saw someone, she would know if the person was human or savant.<br>Anna didn't want to help Christina. Her love for her baby was most important and her loyalty to her family still enough to want to warn them. But she knew it had to be either one. She only had time to either warn her family without Christina knowing, or get her baby away from Christina. So she did the last. She came to our house and asked us to take care of her baby."  
>My father looked at me.<br>"She bound your savant gifts and left to go warn her family, urging us to use the chaos that would happen to leave. She was right, chaos did happen. Anna hoped she would have been in time to at least let some of her family flee, but she didn't know Christina already found out she had left. Christina killed them all. We left and went as far as we could. We knew that they would come looking for us, but with your gifts bound, there was a good chance we would never be found."  
>My mother spoke again, giving me a watery smile.<br>"We couldn't tell you about her, but we didn't want to erase everything about her, so we kept the picture where she was holding you and told her she was your aunt. We named you after her, Anna's second name was Linda."  
>I had to take that in. Will knew I wanted to but couldn't, so he asked in my place.<br>"What name did Anna give her?"  
>"Kyra." My father said.<p> 


	21. Chapter 21

**I never gave up on this story, I just had such a massive writers block trying to figure out where to take the story. But I figured it out! And I'm just hoping you'll enjoy it :D Next three chapters are all done and coming soon!******

**Chapter 21**

My parents wanted to meet the rest so they invited us over for lunch the next day. Rob was playing at a friends house and Mark was with his girlfriend. I didn't know what I would do when I would see my brothers again. According to my feelings nothing had changed. They were still my family. But knowing that I wasn't really related to them wasn't something I liked. I couldn't decide if I wanted my brothers to know everything or not. So I was glad they wouldn't be home right now.

My father grilled the Benedict brothers about their lives in America while my mother was in a conversation with Phoenix. Sanura and I were sitting quietly, listening to the conversations. Every now and then Will would squeeze my hand softly, or look at me reassuringly. I was still upset and confused about everything my parents had told me and he could feel it through our connection.  
>After lunch Yves, Uriel and the girls left for the hotel again, Phee telepathically explained they wanted me to have lots of alone time with my family. Will followed me upstairs to my room.<br>"So, this is it," I said as I opened the door and let him in first.  
>He looked at the purple walls, the bookshelves full of books. Above my desk was the only decoration I had in my room; a collage of pictures from the people I loved. Will even opened the closet to take a look at the little clothes that were still left. And then he turned around.<br>"Finally," he muttered under his breath, but I heard him anyway. He walked over to me and started kissing me with an intensity he hadn't used before. Without stopping the kiss he talked to me telepathically.  
><em>I haven't been alone with you for three days now.<br>_He was right. We were sharing a room with Phee and Yves because we wanted to give Uri and Sanura – the newest couple – as much privacy as possible.  
>His arms were wrapped around me and his hands were wounding through my hair. A small groan escaped my lips, I could feel his lips smiling to mine. We still hadn't gone further than just kissing and hugging, but we both knew that was enough for now. I was reluctant to let go but I really needed to take a deep breath, I was getting lightheaded.<br>Before I could pull away from Will the door opened without even a knock to warn us. I had settled into my shield and my gifts, but kissing distracted me so much that I hadn't paid attention to the shield at all.

"Hey, I heard you're..."  
>Mark stopped after just taking one step into my room.<br>"Who are you?"  
>Will didn't answer him, he didn't understand the question because Mark was speaking in Dutch.<br>"Mark!" I didn't know what I was scolding him for; walking in without knocking? Not speaking English? Being rude? Because the language came easier to me I started talking in Dutch as well.  
>"This is Will, my boyfriend. What are you doing home? And you could've knocked, you know!"<br>"Mom just said you were home so I came up here straight away. I've missed you. You have a boyfriend now? So are you staying? Your exchange program hasn't finished yet, has it?"  
>He suddenly stopped talking, took a deep breath and stretched his arms wide.<br>"Am I getting a hug or not?"  
>I stepped away from Will into Marks arms. I didn't know if and what I was going to tell him, but right now I didn't want to let go of him.<p>

I held my cup of tea with two hands, the warmth giving me comfort.  
>"So, tell me what you've been up to."<br>"English please," my mother scolded Mark whilst nodding towards Will.  
>"Oh, I don't mind," Will immediately said and I knew he really didn't. Besides, if I just let him into my shield he could just keep track of the conversation that way.<br>"She's right, sorry." Mark said to Will before turning his attention to me for the second time. "Well?"  
>"Well," I started, "I went to the university and met my roommate. She lives half an hour away from campus and she invited me to spend Thanksgiving with her family. I did and that's where I met Will."<br>"But I thought you weren't coming home because you were too busy with the school work?"  
>Will smoothly lied for me.<br>"She didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. My mother really wanted us to spend Christmas at her house. And then Linda and I decided that it would be nice if I met her family as well." He looked at me lovingly, "So here we are."  
>"Wow." Mark leaned back in his chair, "I can't believe you have a boyfriend now!"<br>"It's not like you sat around doing nothing waiting for me to return," I teased him, "You have a girlfriend as well!"  
>"Well..."He sat up straight again and looked very happy. "I wasn't going to tell until you came home because I wanted you to be the first to know. Amanda and I are engaged."<br>My mother gasped and her eyes filled with tears. Will was the first one to speak up.  
>"Congratulations!"<br>"Yes," I rasped, "Yes, wow, that's great!"  
>"You should meet her this week, come over for dinner, I'm sure she would love that!"<br>"I would love to meet her, Mark."  
><em>Were just here for two more days.<em> Will warned me telepathically.  
>"It has to be soon though. We're leaving for America in two days. School does go on."<br>Mark was so happy that he didn't notice the lie coming from me. My father did but since he also knew why I _was_ going he didn't comment on it, just smiled at me.  
>"I'm sure she won't mind cooking for you tomorrow night, I'll let you know tonight!"<p>

Will stayed in the kitchen with my mother as my dad took some time with me alone. We used to go for long walks together, he was the one who first realized I needed an outlet for all the extra energy I had in my body. Going out wasn't an option now though. Will hadn't felt the danger for me increase more, but he wasn't about to let me go anywhere without him or one of his brothers present.  
>My father hugged me.<br>"Are you okay? It must have been a lot for you to process and I can't tell you I can relate to it. Since I'm not a savant."  
>"I'm fine dad. I've had plenty of time to adjust to being a savant."<br>"You aren't mad at us?" He looked a bit concerned at that thought. He still hadn't let go of me so I squeezed him a bit tighter.  
>"No, I'm not mad. I understand why you did it. And I know why my..." I couldn't say mother, "Why Anna did what she did. It must have taken a lot of courage."<br>"Yes. She wanted to flee with you but still hoped to be able to save her family."  
>I sighed. I grew up in a warm, loving family. Yet I felt the loss of a mother I had never known and the pain of a father who apparently hadn't loved me enough to stay with me.<br>"I know, honey," My dad said when he saw my tears. He just enveloped me in his arms and held me as I cried.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

"I'm glad we're going home tomorrow." Will said as he dried his hair with a towel.  
>I was having a hard time paying attention to his words because I was focusing on his torso. He had just taken a shower and had only jeans on. I registered the words and answered him.<br>"You miss your family?" I teased him, knowing fully well that was not what he meant.  
>"Oh, definitely," his finger flicked my nose lightly, "That's not it though. Since we got here, the danger to you has increased. I'm just looking forward to having you safely home."<br>He sighed and shot me a look. "You know..."  
>"Oh no," I didn't let him finish his sentence since I already saw his intention in his mind. "We are going to this dinner. I can't let my brother down."<br>"Linda," his face clearly showed discomfort.  
>"Has the danger increased?" I asked him.<br>"No."  
>He wanted to add more but I wouldn't let him<br>"Then we're going. I have to meet Amanda before I leave again, it means so much to Mark."

The door opened and a beautiful blonde girl stood there smiling.  
>"Linda!"<br>Enthusiastically she hugged me. She caught me off guard, usually Dutch people were more reserved.  
>"I've been dying to meet you! Mark has told me so much about you, I feel like I already know you."<br>She turned to Will.  
>"And you must be her boyfriend, Will." She hugged him as well, then stepped back to let us inside.<br>"Come on, Mark is just putting the final touched on dinner."  
>What? My brother was in the kitchen. Cooking? That wasn't like him at all. I was impressed.<br>We followed Linda into the dining room where she showed us our seats.  
>"I'll just go and get Mark."<br>_I don't have a good feeling about this._  
>I hadn't noticed, but now he commented I could feel the unease surrounding Will.<br>_Why?  
>I don't know. This just doesn't feel right. I don't feel any <em>more_ danger. But this just doesn't feel good.  
>It's just a few hours. <em>  
>I wanted to reassure both him and myself.<br>_A lot can happen in _just_ a few hours._ He commented grimly, causing me to look annoyed at him.  
>Amanda and Mark came in, both carrying two plates.<p>

"I hope you like soup, we made it from scratch." Mark grinned as I looked at him. "There's bread on the table, just take some if you like."  
>I had felt nervous about meeting Amanda but this didn't feel uncomfortable at all, I instantly liked her.<p>

"So how did the two of you meet?"  
>"It's not an interesting story."<br>"Of course it is," Amanda scolded Mark, "It was special because I met you that day." She returned her attention to Will and me.  
>"We met in July."<br>That was before I left! Mark hadn't told me anything about a girl back then, being as close as we were, it hurt a little.  
>Mark got up and took the soup plates to the kitchen while Amanda kept talking.<br>"It was at the pool, Mark was working for his summer job and I was just there with friends swimming. My friends had already noticed him, they were talking about how gorgeous he was."  
>She giggled and winked at me.<br>"I wasn't paying much attention to him though, I just wanted to have a good time with my friends. As we all got up to walk to the pool, some guys came running by, pushing us out of the way. I fell and Mark got a hold of me just before I hit the floor. It was quite embarrassing."  
>"Oh, I loved it," Mark said as he entered the room with new full plates. After putting the plates down he gave her a quick peck on her cheek. "You looked beautiful, I instantly knew I wanted to be with you."<br>"That was the same for me." She confessed. "I looked into his eyes and something moved inside me. It was like he found my soul."  
>Instantly I felt Will tensing up next to me.<br>_She's a savant?  
>Must be, who else would use wording like that?<br>Well, I don't know, usually people talk about soulmates, not about finding each others souls. _  
>Mark and Amanda didn't seem to notice our reaction.<br>"I asked her for her phone number and we started dating."  
>"He has taken me to all the nice restaurants."<br>"And three weeks ago I asked her to marry me. Fortunately she didn't even hesitate before saying yes."  
>"How could I say no to the person who found my soul?" She lovingly added as she looked at him.<p>

That was it for me, this seemed intentional and I wasn't going to wait until later before I found out. Enveloping Will inside my shield so he could experience my try first hand I reached out to Amanda telepathically.  
><em>You're a savant?<br>_Her answer followed right away, amusement seeping through the connection I had just made.  
><em>Well, yes, of course. But let's talk later. <em>  
>Will broke the silence before Mark noticed.<br>"So do you have any idea when you two want to get married?"  
>"Yes, do you have a date set yet?" I added.<br>"Mark was waiting for you to return. It's just so nice to know he's got such a close bond with his twin sister." Amanda smiled. "We haven't set a date yet, but we're going to make sure that you can be there. I imagine you're going to be in America for a long time."  
>She slightly pulled a face as something hit the wall of my shield, clearly she was trying to speak telepathically to me, but my shield had closed itself again.<br>From my other end I could feel Wills alarm ringing through my body, he wasn't liking her trying to get through my shield. I didn't see or feel the problem though, her trying to talk to me telepathically didn't feel like an invasion, it felt like a soft knock on a door. A friendly visitor instead of an unwanted intruder. So I carefully created an opening in my shield to talk to her. She noticed.  
><em>Finding your soulfinder and all, I suppose you're going to want to stick around him.<br>_My head was buzzing with all the questions I wanted to ask her.  
><em>Really, we'll talk later tonight, I'll explain then. <em>  
>I nodded and she smiled. In case she would want to tell me something again later I left bit of my shield open for her.<p>

It felt like dinner went by very fast. I really liked Amanda and Mark and Will hit it off as well. We were both having a good time. I still hadn't talked to Amanda though and I really wanted to tonight since Will and I were leaving in the morning. It would be the only chance I would get for a while. So after we finished dessert I suggested that the boys grabbed a drink in the living room while Amanda and I cleared the table. Mark objected for a minute but Amanda and I closed ranks, me teasing him that I was his sister and her adding that surely he wanted me to feel at home at her, soon to be their house.

"So," I said as I started putting plates in the dishwasher. "You're a savant?" My shield let me know that the men were sitting on the couch so I wasn't afraid of them overhearing.  
>"Yes, I knew the two of you were savants the minute I opened the door. I also know that you're not Mark's sister."<br>My eyes widened as I turned to her as fast as I could.  
>"I can see the connections between people." She explained. "So I saw that you and Will are soulfinders, it's the strongest bond there is, even stronger that family ties. I also saw that you aren't related to Mark. And my power also makes me see if someone is a savant or not."<br>"Well, that's a great gift to have." I told her, I was a bit shaken by the things she had told me.  
>"What's your power? And what can Will do?"<br>"I'm a shield, it's a mental shield, that's why you couldn't talk to me telepathically at first at dinner. Will can sense danger, so we complement each other well. He can sense the danger and if needed I can shield us from it. To some extent at least."

Before we went back to the men I had one more thing I wanted to have explained from her.  
>"Aren't you waiting for your soulfinder?"<br>Her face became clouded before she answered.  
>"I already found him, I am certain it was him. But me seeing the bond between people doesn't just work on savants, on humans as well. I found him and I saw his connection to another woman. She was pregnant with his child. I was <em>not<em> going to wreck a perfectly good relationship so I left and decided to find happiness somewhere and with someone else.  
>I'm not saying it wasn't hard." She told me with a watery smile. "But I have come to terms with it. And Mark truly makes me very happy.<p> 


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Karla threw her arms around me while Saul hugged Will.  
><em>She made a big fuss about wanting to pick you up from the airport herself but Zed and dad talked her out of it.<em>  
>Sky's light and soft telepathy brushed through my head, she was already becoming as much of a sister to me as Phee was.<br>_Ow! Your colors are sad and happy at the same time. Do you want to talk about it?  
><em>Sky hugged me and tugged my hand. Will – a bit reluctant to let go but did it anyway – watched us as we walked inside, I could feel his eyes on my back.

After a telepathic message from Sky Phee had followed us inside. Sky took her seat at the piano and started playing some relaxing tunes as Phee sat next to me on the couch and put her arm around my shoulders. They both perfectly sensed my emotions, this was truly the closest I'd ever come to having sisters.  
>The door opened and Uriel peeked around the corner.<br>"Nope Uri," Phee stood up and went to him, closing the door. "Girl time."  
>As he stopped the door from closing I looked over to them and saw from the flashes that they were talking telepathically.<br>"Why are you embarrassed Phee?" Sky asked curiously.  
>"Uri just chided me."<br>"For what?"  
>"Not including Sanura."<br>He hadn't chided me personally, but I felt my cheeks going red. We had just gone into the living room for girl talk, not even asking her to join us.  
>"Is she.." Before Sky finished the sentence there was a knock on the door.<br>_That answers that, I guess. _I told her.  
>Phee hadn't left her place at the door and enthusiastically waved Sanura in.<br>"I'm so sorry Sanura, we're not used to having many girls around here yet."  
>"That's okay," She said it very calmly and almost looked as if she didn't truly want to be here with us.<br>Will must have gotten a hint of my thoughts.  
><em>Uri actually made her go over to you. He wants her to feel a part of the family. And I don't know what got into Phee and Sky, it isn't like them to leave someone out. <em>  
>A bit of hurt came from his thoughts as well, so I quickly explained, hoping he would explain to Uri as well.<br>_Sky saw that I was sad and she figured I needed some girl time. It wasn't on purpose.  
>We never thought it was. <em>  
>He knew I wanted to assure both him and Uri and let me know they both understood.<p>

I wanted the attention on someone else for a change so before anyone could say anything I opened up the conversation.  
>"What are your plans Sanura?"<br>"My plans?"  
>"Yes, for you and Uri, what are you going to do? Where are you going to stay?"<br>"I don't really know, well at least not long term."  
>"So what's the short term plan?" Sky asked.<br>"We're staying here, for now. Uriel arranged it with Yves." Her last sentence sounded as a question as she looked at Phee who nodded. "Uriel wants to make sure Will and Linda are okay first."  
>She just stated it matter-of-factly, no emotion to her words at all. Did she approve? Did she not? I really didn't know what to make of it.<br>Phee pressed on a bit more than Sky did or I would have done.

"But what would you _like_ your long term plans to be? I know you haven't got them figured out yet, but have you got an idea of what you want to do?"  
>"Get a place of our own I guess," Sanura shrugged. "And I think I would like to get a job, I just wouldn't know what I'd be good at. None of the people from the tribe went to school, neither do the children. They teach us to read, write and some basic math, but that's it."<br>"I'm sure Uri will help you figure it out." Sky said brightly.

Part of the girl talk was of course that the girls wanted to know everything that had happened in The Netherlands. Even though Phee and Sanura had both been there, they hadn't heard the entire story yet either. And the things they already knew they just patiently listened to as I explained to Sky.  
>Sky kept in check with my emotions the entire time and when I was finished she gave me another hug. Also sensing that I didn't want to talk about it anymore she took over.<p>

"Well, on to better and happier things."  
>She smiled so broadly that her cheeks must hurt and she practically beamed up and down with excitement.<br>"I wanted you girls to know first, even before we told Karla and Saul. Zed agreed that I could tell you first."  
>She waited a moment to add to the suspense.<br>"We're getting married!" She screeched as she pulled out a ring from her pocket, placing it on her finger.  
>Phee and I both jumped up to hug her, delighted with this news. Sanura stayed back a little, but Sky hugged her anyway.<br>"So, what happened?" If Phee could have she would have just plucked the information right out of Sky's head. Come to think of it, with her gift, she probably could.  
>"Well, since we're both in the right age now we decided to make it official. If we don't Karla will keep us apart forever!" She added dramatically.<br>"I don't know about that, Xav and Crystal are doing just fine. And look at Will and Linda, they're not married."  
>"Yet." Sky told Phee with a wink.<br>Okay. That was _not _something I was ready to talk about. So I quickly drew all of our attention back to Sky.  
>"How did he propose?"<br>"It was really sweet! He took me the old mining town where we had our real first conversation. We go a lot to take a walk so obviously I didn't suspect a thing. Well, until his colors became more and more nervous."  
>"Ha! Can't get anything past you." Phee commented.<br>"Unfortunately not. I didn't know why he was getting nervous but I was just about to ask him when he stopped walking. We stood at the exact same spot where we talked years ago. He got down on one knee."  
>"No!" Phee's eyes widened. "Zed got down on one knee?!"<br>I agreed with her, I couldn't, imagine him doing that. But Phee changed her tune.  
>"Well, you do have him wrapped around your little finger." She laughed.<br>"Let me finish!" Sky lovingly patted Phee on her shoulder.  
>"He got down on one knee, told me he knew that we were going to be together forever, showed me the ring and then bluntly said he wanted to marry me. He didn't even ask!"<p>

We were all laughing now, it was so loud that Karla came looking round the door.  
>"Everything alright girls?"<br>"Yes, Karla, we're fine."  
>"I'm glad to see you are getting along so well." She said lovingly before closing the door again.<br>"I just stood there and he didn't get why I wasn't saying anything. I just kept looking at him expectantly and after I think a minute – mind you, a very _long_ minute – he seemed to get it. He looked back up and this time properly asked me if I wanted to marry him. Of course I said yes!  
>And I've had to hide this ring for the last few days, because I wanted you girls to be the first ones to know."<br>I guessed it was mostly because she wanted Phee the first to know, they had gotten very close, being the first two added soulfinders to the family.

"How did Yves propose to you Phee?" She had never told me this and I was curious to know.  
>"He asked me to marry him while I was lying in a hospital bed."<br>"What?!"  
>She quickly explained everything that had happened from when she first met him until the proposal. Now that I was a savant as well, she could tell me the entire story and I hadn't heard the entire story from her perspective yet.<br>"We were seventeen at the time." She smiled at the memory. "We got married in England, but since it was the first of her sons getting married, Karla wanted to go all out. So when we got back here, it still lasted a month before we had what Karla calls our real wedding. She didn't allow us to live together until then."  
>"It was great though, she lived with me that month." Sky said.<br>"And the wedding!" Her eyes sparkled. "The wedding was perfect! Trace, Uriel, Victor, Will and Zed all gave her away and I got to be the bridesmaid."

We all expectantly turned to Sanura, I was really curious about her story.  
>"You want to know how Uriel proposed?"<br>"Well, yes!" Phee said, Sky and I nodded.  
>"I'm afraid it really wasn't romantic at all. He didn't really ask. He was making phone calls while we were on the way to the airport. And I had already seen my future with him, so when he pulled the car over I told him I'd be happy to marry him."<br>"Wow!" Sky laughed, "That must have caught him by surprise."  
>"It did, we hadn't had a change yet to talk about our gifts." Sanura seemed to warm up a bit more. "Anyway, we went to the consulate, married and Uriel made a few phone calls again, using connections to get me a passport right away. We both wanted to leave as soon as possible so took the first flight out of there."<br>"Are you going to have another wedding here?" Sky seemed exited at that prospect.  
>"No, Uriel knows I don't want to and he told Karla it made no difference to him."<br>Phee, Sky and I were impressed. Our men were no push-overs. At all. But usually they did their mothers bidding. I was glad Uriel took such a stand against his mother for his soulfinder.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Everyone had been over for Christmas so celebrating New Years Eve was actually a quiet occasion.  
>Instead of staying like he had said Robyn and he would, Victor had to go back to his apartment in Denver to sort out some things for work. Robyn was very apologetic about it before they left, saying he took his work very seriously.<br>So at the house it was just Karla, Saul, Zed and Sky. Uriel, Sanura, Yves, Phee, Will and I were still staying at Phoenix and Yves' house. Karla insisted we'd go to their house for New Years Eve and spend the night there.

Sky and Zed decided it would be the perfect evening to tell Karla and Saul about the upcoming wedding. As expected, Karla cried, but Saul surprised me by wiping away a tear or two as well. Karla claimed Sky for an hour after that, trying to get in wedding planning, until Zed grumpily told his mother that she'd have more chances for planning weddings, this was going to be Sky's mothers turn.  
>Karla wasn't taken aback by it at all, just stated she would call Sally at the first possible opportunity. "Poor woman." Will muttered next to me.<p>

At twelve o'clock we called with Xav and Crystal. Diamond, Trace, Victor and Robyn were spending the evening together and made a call on Skype. They were all thrilled about the news Sky and Zed had.  
>At breakfast the next morning Karla was still talking about the upcoming wedding and Zed told her it would be soon.<br>"I've always wanted a winter wedding, Karla, in the snow." Sky said.  
>"So we're planning to marry in a few weeks, a month at most."<br>Once again, I saw the great amount of love Zed had for Sky. He didn't seem delighted about the prospect of a wedding at all, I think that he would have just had a marriage at the city hall if it was up to him, but he wanted to make Sky happy so he would do whatever she wanted.  
>Because of the close bond Sky and Phoenix had I automatically assumed that Zed would ask Yves to be his best man. He proved me wrong though; Zed asked Uriel. Will told me that from an early age on, Zed always would chose Uriel. It didn't make sense to me at all, the calm Uriel and the hot headed Zed. Karla and Sky insisted that the other brothers would all be groomsmen.<br>Without having really talked about it, both Will and I decided to park anything regarding me for the moment. I tried to help out as much as I could and used the other time to practice more with my gifts. Will still took me out every day to keep my body moving.  
>Karla was disappointed that not everyone arrived days before the wedding. But after Christmas Xav and Victor just couldn't take the time off. Trace and Diamond were traveling with Victor and Robyn so they were also going to arrive on the wedding day itself.<p>

At the morning of the wedding I was a bit unsure of where I was supposed to be. Should I go with Will to the Benedicts house? I didn't want to intrude on Zed's special time with his family though. I also wasn't sure if I'd be welcome at Sky's house where she was getting ready for her big day. I just stood lingering in Phee's kitchen. Will pulled me on his lap and hugged me.  
><em>Of course you're coming with me, you're part of the family now. <em>  
>"Ready to get going Linda?" Phee asked me as she grabbed her coat.<br>"Uhm. Where are we going?"  
>"To Sky of course." She stated matter-of-factly.<br>Will was reluctant to let go of me and I thought about Sky's human house. There wouldn't be a Benedict brother present to protect me or keep shields up.  
>Apparently Phoenix was looking at his thought pattern.<br>"All girls will be there, Will and it's just a five minute drive away. Besides, Zed and mom are checking all day."  
>He still hesitated but already loosened his grip on me.<br>"It'll be fine." He stated before he kissed me and let me go.

I was surprised that really all the soulfinders of the Benedict brothers were present.  
>The surprise was even bigger when Phee and Sky came out of Sky's room, Phoenix showing off her bridesmaid dress. They opened the door to the room and there were 5 more dresses, identical to the one Phee was wearing.<br>"Girls, I don't have any family and now that the Benedict family is complete, I would really love for all of you to be my bridesmaids today!"  
>Now I understood why Phoenix had made such a fuss when I wanted to buy something new for the wedding, she kept insisting that the dress I was going to borrow from her was perfect.<br>I looked around the room to see how the other girls responded. Robyn and Sanura didn't look thrilled, but they weren't objecting either. Crystal however, _was_ thrilled and she pulled Diamond in to look at the dresses.  
>"This is just lovely, Sky, thank you." I said as I gave her a kiss on her cheek.<br>"Are you kidding?" She said, "I meant it. I don't have any other family and you all are my sisters now. Even if some of you aren't actually married to Benedicts." She didn't mean this as a jab towards me or Robyn, which was made very clear when she nudged Crystal, who took it well.  
>"Okay, girls, time to get ready!" Sally came in with a photographer following her. We had two hours to get ready, all of us fixing each others make up and hair. It was the most girly thing I had done in a very long time and I loved every minute of it.<p>

We didn't have any time to spare, Sky was just putting her shoes on when Zed arrived. Instead of going for the traditional – meeting each other at the altar –, Zed and Sky had decided to do the pictures before the ceremony.  
>The first pictures would be "the first look". The photographer stayed in the room with Sky as Zed would come in. It meant all of us girls piled out and went downstairs. We had time for a quick cup of tea before we went into the mountains to have our pictures taken.<br>As we were sitting in the kitchen we saw Zed passing, he didn't even glance our way but actually looked a bit nervous as he took to the stairs. Crystal and Phee started giggling at the sight of him and I felt a smile forming on my lips as well.  
><em>You should see your brother.<em>  
>Wills reply came quickly.<br>_If he looks anything like he did when he left here, I can imagine how he looks.  
><em>Looking around the room I could see that more of the girls were talking telepathically, all kinds of faint flashes were going through the room.  
><em>So, mom told us about the number of bridesmaids. I can't wait to see how you look!<br>Today's not about me.  
>No, but I can't wait for the day that it will be. <em>  
>Without consciously choosing to do so, I closed my shield off, pushing Will out. The shock of his comment subsided and to let him know that nothing was wrong I enveloped him in my shield now, so we couldn't keep anything from each other.<br>_Obviously we can't steal anyone's thunder, but there's no other possible outcome for me.  
><em>I didn't have to confirm, he knew it was the same for me. What a way to propose.  
><em>Oh, honey, this wasn't a proposal, far from it.<em> He chuckled, sending a shiver down my spine.  
><em>I wish I could kiss you right now, I love that I can have that effect on you.<br>_I felt myself getting warm all over.  
><em>I'm going to let you go now.<br>_Before he could protest, I pushed him out of my shield, but kept a space open for him so we still could communicate. He didn't say anything but another chuckle came through.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

"God, that was terrifying."  
>"It was just for a few hours."<br>"A lot can happen in just a few hours, though." Will held me tight and we waited in row until it was our turn to take a picture with Sky and Zed. Now that the Benedict family was complete they wanted a picture of the two of them with every couple. We also took pictures just the couples themselves, Karla had asked Sky for it, she happily agreed.  
>"As you can see I'm perfectly fine."<br>"And not in danger at all." He added content.

After all the pictures were taken with the family we went ahead to the church, Zed and Sky went with the photographer to another location.  
>There was a nice lunch arranged for us, Phoenix went and got some of Sky's favorite sandwiches on a plate, saving it in the kitchen so Sky would have something to eat when she and Zed arrived.<br>Will and I kept close without thinking about it. You could see it all around the room, the soulfinders did not leave each others sides. While first I thought it was about some protective instinct all these men had for their women, now I knew it was about a mutual attraction. Soulfinders were just drawn to each other, even when they were already in the same room.  
>Trace and Diamond came over to us, wanting to know how things had been in The Netherlands. We explained everything to them.<br>"Five minutes until they're here!" Karla called out to us and that was our cue to take our seats.  
>As we walked in Robyn and Victor came over to us, asking the same questions Trace and Diamond just did. I still wasn't comfortable around Victor, even though I could see Robyn clearly brought out a loving and soft side in him, so I let Will do most of the talking.<br>When we reached the door, Robyn frowned.  
>"Wait, that woman is her aunt?"<br>The door opened and Zed came walking in holding Sky's hand, Uriel went to them, handing Zed a plate filled with sandwiches. Phoenix caught Sky who said she desperately needed to go to the toilet.

We didn't have any more time to talk to anyone because Karla started lining us all up. Zed had eaten all of his sandwiches at a speed I didn't believe anyone could rival with. Sky tried a sandwich but didn't finish it, stating she was way too nervous to eat.  
>As Zed tried to kiss Sky before he walked in, Karla patted him on the back, telling him to wait. A collective laugh rolled through the room.<br>All the guests had taken their seats so Saul quickly got Zed out of the room, into the church, Uri followed close. Will blew me a kiss before he went through the door to take his seat. The men were all walking in together, but only Phoenix and Uriel would stay standing with the bride and groom.  
>Piano music started to play in the church and that was our cue.<br>Karla looked down our neat row one more time, nodded her head and wiped away some tears.  
>"My lovely girls!" She exclaimed before turning round, the first to go in.<br>Crystal waited a few seconds and started our line inside, Diamond right behind her and the rest of us girls following them. Phoenix was the last bridesmaid to walk in before Sky and her father.  
>Halfway down the path I recognized the music, it was a piece Sky had written herself.<br>For once my eyes weren't instantly drawn to Will, but I was looking at Zed. He almost looked mad, but his nervousness showed through the hard edges of his face.  
>As we bridesmaids went to stand next to our soulfinders, everybody else stood up as well, watching Sky and Simon walk in. Instead of looking at her I kept looking at Zed. His features had all softened up as the love for his girl shone through. I leaned into Will a bit, feeling emotional myself.<p>

Everyone sat down and the ceremony started. When it was time for the vows Zed turned towards the church full of people instead of looking at Sky, a horrified expression on his face. She turned as well,her face looking paler than it had just a minute ago.  
>"I saw Linda..." Zed said.<br>Will sharply turned back to Robyn when he heard her whisper.  
>"I solved the puzzle..."<br>Saul, always calm, took a step forward to Zed.  
>"What did you see son?"<br>Zed shook his shoulders, fear was coming up in Sky's eyes, she must have seen what he saw through their bond. Karla seemed to be staring at nothing, I realized she must be trying to see the future as well.  
>Will had already gotten up and pulled me with him to the front row.<br>Where Zed had said my name, Karla called Will's.

Everything seemed to blow up in front of me. It all happened so quick and at the same time it was like time was slowing down.  
>All around me I saw flashes in all colors, gifts being used by people. As Will pushed me behind him he shouted to Victor, who was closest to me.<br>"Keep her safe!"  
>I understood that this was the danger surrounding me, it had finally caught up on us.<br>The colors were still blinding me and I pulled my shield up full force, not leaving an opening for anyone. Unfortunately it didn't help much, my shield was mental; it could keep things and people out, but I still saw the flashes of the gifts all the others used.  
>From behind Zed and Sky I saw people coming into the church, I didn't recognize one of them. Victor and Robyn pulled me back together but I wanted to stay with Will. Where <em>was<em> Will? I didn't see him anymore. I struggled in Robyns hold, but even though I was physically fit, I was nowhere near as strong as she was with her military training. It was no use. Instead of fighting her off I decided the smart thing was to do to calm down and try to understand the situation I was in right now as much as possible.

I saw Diamond, she was being pushed back, not only by Trace, but also by Xav and Crystal. Xav was trying to get Crystal to step back as well, but by the looks of it she refused to do so. With an angry look he gave up and focused on his surroundings again.  
>Phee took Sanura away while Yves and Uriel turned away from them, towards the door at the front of the church. While Robyn stayed with me Victor made sure all the other wedding guests left the room, his commanding voice combined with his gift made them quickly leave. He turned round and went to stand next to his father.<br>Zed took Sky in his arms, ran to his mother, practically dropped Sky and made his way back to where Saul was, the Benedict men were closing ranks.  
>"Will!"<br>I followed Sauls gaze and saw Will at the door. He had turned around to Saul's voice and he was closest to the door in front of the church. He didn't see the hands that grabbed him from behind.  
>I tried to let my shield down as quickly as I could, but it stayed in place, I had no control over it. My second attempt was to try and get Will inside of my shield, but that also didn't work. A frustrated groan left my lips and I began struggling in Robyn's hands again.<br>The blunt force of Victor hit my shield, my guess was he wanted to talk to me telepathically, with all the sounds in the room I wouldn't be able to hear a word he would say. For the third time I tried to make my shield listen to me but it still wasn't budging.

From all sides I felt nudges to my shield, only two of them were familiar, Will and Victor. Victor's blunt force to my shield hadn't hurt me before and if it were only him and Will I don't think it would've hurt. But the attack of so many different sides _did_ hurt. I whimpered and had to sit down where I was standing. There was still a chair behind me, I felt my back hurting but it was nothing compared to the pain I felt on my shield. It became one big pounding.  
>I felt blind, not knowing what happened around me, because I was too consumed with the pain surrounding me. So even though I didn't feel like I physically would be able to, I opened my eyes and looked to the direction where I had last seen Will.<br>I recognized one of the people standing behind him, it was Amanda!

She seemed to have been waiting for me to see her and smiled sweetly before she turned around. Will was being pulled after her by two men, even though I couldn't hear him, I saw my name on his lips.  
>Why wasn't anyone doing anything? But they were trying.<br>Yves was throwing fire balls, even though Saul shouted at him to stop doing it. But the balls just disappeared when they came near the door. Zed was using his telekineses to throw objects to the door but that also just got deflected. My best guess was that someone had put a shield on the door.  
>The pain on my shield and all the flashes through the room were really becoming to much for me now.<br>Without any warning, everything stopped at once. The pounding at my shield was gone and everyone stopped using their powers. They were all looking at Saul, he must have given them the order to stop.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

I wasn't going to wait for what Saul wanted to say, I got up and ran to the door. Whatever had been shielding it was gone now and I made it to the road before two hands grabbed my waist, pulling me back.  
>"Stay here!" Victor growled in my ear.<br>"Let go of me!"  
>"I can't."<br>"You won't!" I shouted at him. "Let go of me now! I have to look for Will."  
>"Linda!" He tried to get through to me and I felt him pounding at my shield again, I could vaguely make out that he was trying to persuade me with his gift.<br>I had never been so mad at anyone in my life – ever.  
>"LET! GO!" I screeched, I was frantic.<br>To my surprise he did. He let go of me. But within seconds, before I could even move, his hands were replaced by Uriel's.  
>I could feel the eyes of every single Benedict and their soulfinders on me as he held me close to him, no intention of letting go. My fighting power left my body at once as I slumped into his arms, now holding onto him.<br>"I have to find Will." I whispered to him.  
>"I know, we will." I wasn't convinced and he knew it. "We <em>will<em>!" He told me again, with more fire this time. "But we need a plan first."  
>My body did not agree with him. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to go anywhere with all of them around me I gave up though. For now. Uriel brought me back to the church, as we walked past Zed he whispered something in my ear.<br>"You can't fool me, change your plans." I winced at his words.

Crystal was sitting with her head between her legs, Xavier bending over her.  
>"It's nothing, Xav," She tried to wave him off, "I'm just nauseous from all the telepathy."<br>He ignored her and checked her body all over, from her legs to her belly, to her chest and finally her head. She sighed and leaned into him as he took away her nausea with his healing gift.  
>It was no surprise to me that Victor took the lead.<br>"What do we know?"  
>Just like when they all had tried to read me, everyone took turns talking. Zed was the one who started it off.<br>"I saw Linda being taken so I warned Will to keep her away from the door."  
>"That decision caused me to see Will being taken." Karla added.<br>"They had a massive shield up. I couldn't get any telepathy through to Will."  
>"No one of us could get anything past the door, dad." Trace said.<br>"But who took him? And why?"

Before I could explain anything about Amanda, Robyn spoke up.  
>"The girl taking him was Linda's cousin."<br>Half of the people looked at me, the other half looked at her, all questioning looks on their faces.  
>"What?" I managed to croak out.<br>"I solved the puzzle. When everyone read you the first time, Uriel saw a woman in your past, right?"  
>I nodded. "My aunt."<br>"Yes. Well, that girl we saw is your aunts daughter."  
>"How do you know?"<br>She shrugged. "It's a part of the puzzle, it was the missing piece."  
>"So can you tell us what they want?" Saul asked her.<br>"Apart from the fact that they want Linda I don't know. Since I don't know anything about their motives, that's not a puzzle I can solve."

These were all things I wasn't interested in right now, I just wanted Will back. Now that he was gone I felt a hole inside of me, something I never knew was there, but his presence had filled it up.  
>"Is he still in danger?"<br>"No," Saul answered me, "He isn't in immediate danger. I mean, it's not like he's safe. But I don't think we should worry right now."  
>"Okay, so let's go."<br>"Go? You don't even know where he is!" Uriel exclaimed.  
>"I don't care, I can't just sit here, I need to <em>do<em> something."  
>"Will would be the first to tell you this:" Zed started, "You need a plan before you just run off. We will find him, we always do."<br>"Believe me," Xav said as he put a hand on my back.  
>He didn't finish what he was going to say but lowered his hand, his breath a hiss.<br>"You should have told me." He scolded me.  
>Only now that he said it I felt the pain searing through my lower back. The pain quickly subsided by his healing touch and Xav went over to the others, checking all of them over as well.<p>

Karla and Saul managed to talk me into going back to their house. Karla took me in her car as Saul stayed behind to make sure all the guests were seen off.  
>The others got there sooner than we did though, Yves already being in the kitchen fixing something to eat for everyone. Phoenix was standing next to him, her face showing that she was not about to leave her soulfinder's side anytime soon.<br>Xav and Crystal standing still next to me arguing took my mind away from Will for a second. "Take a rest upstairs, Cupcake."  
>"Stop it, Xav, I'm fine."<br>"Crystal..." He started pleading.  
>"Xavier!" I had never seen her look this mad at him. "Stop treating me as if I'm made of sugar, I might be needed here later on, I'm staying."<br>Karla's eyes became blank for a minute and then a smile formed on her lips. How could she be smiling right now?  
>"You won't be able to keep that to yourselves for very much longer Xavier Benedict." She said it softly as she breezed past us.<br>Xav gave me a small grin as Crystal cursed so softly that I almost didn't hear it.  
>"Living room everyone!" Victor called out. I was the first one moving.<p>

I anxiously waited for everyone to take a seat, not even bothering to sit down myself. Uriel looked at me, as did Phee, but neither of them approached me. I felt horrible for feeling the way I did, but seeing all these couples together made me jealous, I wanted my soulfinder back. Finally I had truly and totally embraced my being a savant.  
>"I already made some phone calls, I can have a team here tomorrow." Victor said.<br>That was taking too long!  
>"We've dealt with situations like this before, Linda," He said after a good look at my face. "I'm sorry, getting a team here just takes time." He turned his attention to everyone else again. "Let's get as much information as possible before then." He almost said it cheerily, as if he was expecting to have a good time at getting Will back.<br>Were we going to do a circle again?  
>Robyn summed up the facts.<br>"Will was taken by Amanda, who is Linda's niece. We don't know where he is or what they want from him. But they still want Linda."  
>Well, that made me feel better, we had nothing to go on.<br>"I can find him." Crystal said. "I can follow Linda's connection to him."  
>It was the first bit of good news I heard since leaving the church.<br>Victor nodded and explained in general.  
>"When the girls were kidnapped in Venice, Crystal used her soulseeker gift to follow the soulfinder bond between Diamond and Trace and she found the girls much faster than we could have."<br>So this was only news to Sanura, Robyn and me.  
>"We don't need a full circle for that," he continued, "Let's just decide what to do when we find him and Crystal can look for him after that."<br>What? No! I wanted Crystal to look for him now! I knew I wouldn't get my way with the fully in mode FBI agent Victor though.

"Okay. I think we should wait for the team and then we go in tomorrow to get Will back. The girls will stay here.."  
>"What?!" I exclaimed.<br>"No way!" Crystal backed me up.  
>"We can help!" Phoenix added.<br>"Oh no, no, no, no, Cupcake. You're not going anywhere."  
>Crystal shook his hand from her shoulder.<br>"He's my family too, Xav."  
>"Yeah, well, I've got my own little family to protect." He simply stated, outing the secret of her pregnancy.<br>Crystal growled as congratulations came from different sides of the room.  
>I was watching Yves and Phee though,flashes going back and forth between them. They were clearly having a telepathic conversation, looking mad at each other. Yves was controlling a fire ball with his hand, twirling it round and round. Phoenix left the room and smashed the door behind her, leaving everyone looking startled.<br>"Go, Yves." Saul told him.  
>Since no one was talking now he took the lead.<br>"Let's worry and talk about who comes later. First we'll have to see if Crystal can find him and then maybe we'll have some more insight to who we need to get him out."  
>My phone buzzed and I took it from my purse, a foolish hope that Will had reached me. It was a message from my father.<p>

-Don't come ho-

**Please leave a review! :)**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Thank you so much for pointing that out xxx-benedictbrothersfan-xxx. I'm Dutch, so I got confused a bit, I went back and changed it. Have another chapter as my thank you ;-)**

**Chapter 27**

-Don't come ho-

The message stopped in the middle of the last word, but the only thing it could be was 'home'. He told me not to come home, why would he do that? Victor with his trained eye was the first to notice that I was looking at my phone, I'm sure there was a horrified expression on my face and my hand was trembling so hard that I almost dropped it.  
>Victor came over to me and took my phone from me.<br>This couldn't be a coincidence, I didn't believe that for a second. Judging by his response, Victor didn't either. He handed Robyn the phone.  
>"Can you make something of this?"<br>Then he left the room, stating he was going to make some calls.  
>Robyn gave me my phone back.<br>"I'm sorry, I haven't got a clue."  
>I didn't listen to her but was already trying to call my father, but the phone just rung; no answer. I tried my mothers phone and Mark's as well, but my family was unreachable.<br>Victor came walking back in, Phee right behind him, she pulled me into a hug. All I could do was just stand there, overwhelmed.

After most of the people left the room, Crystal and Trace combined their gifts, Crystal seeking out my soulfinder, Trace using his tracking gift to support her in laying the road. Xav stayed to help shield Crystal from the telepathy, Zed held it all together so that Victor and Robyn could see the bigger picture. Apart from Crystal needing me to follow the soulfinder bond, I wasn't of any use at all. I didn't know the area at all so I wouldn't have a clue where to go even when knowing his location.

Crystal and Trace found him fast. Even though I had relaxed my shield again – Saul had explained to me that it wouldn't budge earlier because of all the adrenaline and danger, it was protecting me whether I liked it or not – I couldn't reach Will through telepathy. But none of the people in the circle felt any distress coming from him, so I just had to trust that he wasn't harmed.  
>Victor was satisfied with the result, we knew where Will was and the team would go in the morning to get him back. I couldn't wait.<br>I asked Crystal if she could use my bond with my parents to see if we could find something out about them. She tried and this time I could be of some use, recognizing their location. They were still at home. But of course I didn't have a clue _if _ something was wrong with them or if they were okay.  
>"They have sent a team over to their house." Victor tried to assure me – it didn't help a bit.<p>

After being refused by everyone to go anywhere at all – Zed had warned them – I grumpily went upstairs to Will's room.  
>Soon I was going crazy, downstairs at least I could keep myself busy with other things. In this room there was nothing else to do but worry about Will, his stuff around me only reminding me of how much I loved and missed him.<br>I was pacing around the room when a knock on the door caused me to suddenly stand still. I assumed it was Uriel or Phoenix and even those two I didn't want to see right now. I was surprised by the voice I heard after a second knock.  
>"Can I come in, Linda?"<br>I opened the door to Victor who was holding my sneakers.  
>"I was told you like to go running, that it helps you to relax."<br>An unbelieving laugh rolled of my lips.  
>"Do you really think I could relax right now? Even a bit? My soulfinder is gone, my family unreachable. I'm going crazy."<br>"Which is why I'm taking you out, put these on."  
>You didn't just refuse Victor Benedict. Well, I was going crazy in this room, I might as well go crazy outside, didn't matter much where I went crazy, did it?<p>

"You know," He said, when we were gaining speed. "I can't say I exactly know how you feel, but I thought I was going nuts when I knew Robyn was imprisoned in Afghanistan."  
>Was this supposed to make me feel better? I couldn't find it in me to sympathize with him right now, if that was what he was expecting. I just picked up my speed even more. Of course he could easily keep up with me.<br>"I didn't even get to go safe her myself." He kept talking and my annoyance with him kept building. "Since Crystal had told me, I knew _exactly_ where she was, I just wasn't allowed to go to her, I couldn't reach her."  
>My irritation drove me further, I was panting now. Victor could still easily talk, it was maddening really.<br>"I hadn't even met her yet and all I wanted to do was be with her. I didn't need to have met her to know that I would do absolutely everything in my power to safe her. Even if it would hurt myself. Being left behind was the greatest agony I have ever experienced in my life."  
>I abruptly stopped and looked at him – furious.<br>"Why are you telling me this? I feel bad enough as it is!"  
>"To let you know that I understand." He simply stated.<p>

Instead of going back to the house, he took me further away, walking this time. After five minutes we were at a parking lot.  
>"Let's sit down here." He walked over to a bench and I followed him, sitting down next to him.<br>"Tell me about your shield."  
>"What?" I looked at him, confused by the sudden change of subject.<br>"Your shield," He repeated patiently, "When it's on full force, no one or anything can get through it, right? Yves told me he threw a fire ball at your back and your shield stopped it."  
>I didn't like the way he worded that last bit, he made it sound like Yves had tried to hurt me.<br>"So? Nothing can get through it?"  
>I shook my head.<br>"When Will was in your shield in our house, the day after we met, nothing mental could get through to Will either, right?"  
>I nodded, wondering where he was going with this.<br>"And you are able to keep openings in your shield, so that people you know and trust can reach you." Another nod from me. "You just haven't figured out if that poses a threat to the wrong people being able to get through that part as well."  
>I started to shake my head again, but then remembered Amanda.<br>"It doesn't."  
>"What?" He asked.<br>"When we were having dinner with my brother and Amanda, she tried to talk to me telepathically, but she couldn't. And at the time I still had my openings for Will, Yves, Phee and Uri in my shield. The shield is only open to the people I choose to let know that there's a opening for them. And then I hide the opening. And even if someone would try to get through, I would feel the attack on the shield and can close it entirely before they find it."  
>He discarded the information about my brother and Amanda, even though I just realized I hadn't explained that to anyone yet. Maybe Phee and Uri had told the others.<p>

"Excellent." Victor smiled.  
>What was he smiling about?<br>"Do you think you can create an opening for me into your shield?"  
>I seriously doubted it, I was still afraid of this man sitting next to me.<br>Victor didn't need my words, he sensed my discomfort.  
>"It's important." He said quietly.<br>Even though I was scared of him, even though I highly disagreed that he wouldn't let me come tomorrow to find Will, I still trusted him.  
>"I'll try."<br>"It has to be a really well hidden spot." Victor said as I closed my eyes.  
>I visualized my shield as a house again and went looking for a place to hide an opening. Taking notice that it had to be really well hidden, I broke a brick and only took a quarter of it out of my wall, where normally I would've taken an entire brick.<br>Sensing him poking at my shield I almost stopped with what I was doing, but I pushed through.  
><em>Over here.<br>Found it._  
>"Good." He said aloud again, I opened my eyes. "I'm going to trust that you will keep that opening for me. Don't open it up for anyone else, not even someone you trust." He warned me; "The more openings, the weaker the shield will become."<p>

He reached inside his pocket and gave me a set of keys.  
>"Take the purple car, the address is set into the navigation system. Go find Will and immerse him in your shield like you did the first time. If you keep the opening for me, you will be a significant help tomorrow when we come and free the both of you, I will be able to keep in touch with you."<br>I just sat there, stupidly looking at him.  
>"Are you serious?"<br>He nodded. "Our soulfinders are all strong women, we should treat you all like it."  
><em>Now go!<em>  
>By now, I had hugged all of the Benedicts brothers except for this one. He had just scared me too much. But now I threw my arms around him and walked off to the car he had mentioned. I got behind the wheel and sure enough, the navigation system started up and gave me a route. Looking in my back mirror I could still see Victor standing by the bench.<p> 


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28__**

The drive to Will took me an hour and a half. I didn't like it, it gave me too much time to think and I didn't want to think right now. Getting to Will was the most important thing to me, but I couldn't stop thinking about my parents and brothers either; where were they and were they okay? I had the radio on for 10 minutes but got too annoyed by the sound so shut it off again. It was the middle of the night and pitch dark, when the navigation told me I had still 5 minutes to go I turned off the car's headlights.  
>When I reached a gate, I checked to see if my shield was still firmly in place. Before doing anything else I sought out Will. I didn't want to have to get him under my shield with other people present. Relief came over me when I managed to find him quickly. I opened up my shield, let him in and firmly closed it again. I would <em>have <em>to keep my shield under control or it would throw Will out and just protect me again, also closing the communication line to Victor.  
>I no longer felt only my own emotions. Will's emotions flooded over me as I just sat there in the car, I was glad I did this before I went in, it was overwhelming. He went from relief to having me close to him, to being scared for me to being mad at Victor as he sought out my memories.<p>

Wait; I thought to myself, that was way too easy.  
>I jumped in my seat as a hand knocked on my window.<br>"So lovely of you to join us, we saw you coming." Amanda smiled sweetly.  
>"I was feeling left out. You know, not being invited and all." I replied.<br>"Oh, you would have gotten an invitation sooner or later." She turned to one of the two men next to her. "Is she alone?"  
>I saw flashes coming from him, shooting in different directions, then they returned to him and he nodded to Amanda.<br>"Good, that's smart of you." She said approvingly. "And you just made things a lot easier for us, as well. Does anyone know where you are?"  
>I had a feeling lying wouldn't be of any use.<br>"Of course they know, they know where Will is."  
>"And they're planning on coming and getting him." She didn't seem concerned by the prospect at all. "Thank you for coming." She smiled. I was getting sick of that smile, it made my teeth ache.<p>

"No doubt you're here for Will, I'm sure you already reached him. It wasn't our intention to have you two separated." Amanda said as she led me inside, no one was holding or forcing me. "So sorry we had to take him, we just wanted to reach you."  
><em>Don't believe a word she says.<em> Will warned me.  
><em>Oh, I don't.<em>  
>"But you're here now, so all is well." She stated cheerfully.<br>We walked into a bedroom, Will was already standing, knowing we were coming for him. He looked horrible, one side of his face entirely black and blue from a nasty bruise. I rushed over to him and he caught me, holding me tight.  
>"I'll just leave you two to it then, see you in the morning. Get some sleep."<br>Amanda turned around and left the room, closing the door, but not locking it.  
>"Yeah, it hasn't been locked since I got here. I couldn't get out anyway, there's a shield keeping me inside this building. I could leave the room just fine, but no door leading outside opened. No one even came looking for me as I just wandered about."<br>I held his face in two hands, he did the same with mine, leaning in for a kiss.  
>"Are you okay? They hurt you." He winced as I stroked his cheek as gently as I could.<br>"That happened when they pushed me into the van, Amanda actually apologized for it, stating it was never their intention to hurt me."  
>He let me look through his memories; they had thrown him into a van and taken him here, just leaving him in this room unguarded.<br>"I can't believe that Vick did that!" He angrily but still gently pushed me away from him and walked to the other end of the room. He must have been checking my memories as I was looking at his.  
>I couldn't agree with him.<br>"I'm glad Victor let me go. This is my fight you know."  
>"Yeah, well, up until now it hasn't been much of a fight."<br>"Still, I should be here. Not you."  
>"You're wrong about that. We should be here together."<br>_We should face everything together. Always._

"Let's go explore."  
>"It's no use, Linda. All the exits are shielded."<br>His memories showed that he already checked everywhere.  
>"I'm going to look anyway."<br>I turned around, before even having left the room, his hand grabbed mine, not willing to let me out of his reach.  
>We walked around in the building, it seemed to be some sort of a office, different work spaces all around us. I spotted a door leading outside and went to it.<br>"What are you doing?"  
>Amanda's curious carefree voice stopped my hand from reaching the door.<br>"Just going out for some fresh air."  
>I tried to mimic her tone as best as I could.<br>"All you had to do was ask." She said looking at Will. "Let me open that for you then."  
>She calmly walked over and opened the door, gesturing us to walk out. Will's confusion was seeping through me.<br>"I _would_ go and get some rest if I were the two of you though. Mother wants to see you in the morning."  
>With that statement she turned around and left us outside.<br>Will took a deep breath, clearly enjoying being outside after spending the entire day and evening inside.  
>The building was surrounded by the gate I had stopped at when I came here. I didn't have to try to know that we wouldn't be able to get past it.<br>_We shouldn't be discussing any plans out loud. I would be worried about telepathy as well, but since I am _in_ your shield now I'm not bothered, they won't know a thing. We both know how strong your shield is. _  
>"I hate to agree with Amanda, but I think we should go and sleep."<br>_Who knows what happens in the morning._ He added.  
>Once we laid down on the bed we took more time to see each others memories of the day, letting each other know what happened. Even in the situation we were in now, he felt delighted at the prospect of becoming an uncle for the first time.<br>"I never thought Xav would be the first one." He grinned.

We woke up to Amanda breezing into the room.  
>"Rise and shine! We've got to get going!"<br>_Going?  
><em>Will was up immediately, I was just feeling glad neither of us two had undressed before getting into bed.  
>"I'll see you in the kitchen, just follow the smell of food."<br>Before I had fully registered her words she was out of the room already.  
>"I am hungry. I haven't had anything since lunch yesterday."<br>We left the room hand in hand, looking for the kitchen. There was an entire buffet of breakfast; croissants, buns, cooked eggs, baked eggs, milk, orange juice, tea, coffee, it was all there. Amanda was already sitting at the counter, a full plate in front of her. Different men were walking around, getting breakfast as well. I noticed there weren't any other woman present.  
>Amanda patiently waited for us to finish breakfast, all the time happily talking about the weather and her hobbies, as if this were completely normal and we were just getting to know each other.<br>Will and I were both tense, waiting for the moment when the Benedict family would get us out of here. Except for the fact that my aunt apparently wanted to meet me I still didn't have any idea why we were here though. I couldn't help but being curious about it.  
>I cut right through one of Amanda's sentences.<br>"Why are we here?"  
>She looked surprised that I had decided to talk.<br>"We're family."  
>That didn't explain anything.<br>"You usually don't kidnap family."  
>"We didn't." She pointed out. "We just took Will here, you came here yourself."<br>I wasn't going to humor that comment with a response.  
>"So why did you want me here?"<br>"I told you last night. My mother wants to meet you. She's been looking forward to this reunion for years."  
>"So when is she coming then?"<br>"Oh, she's not here." Amanda laughed. "We're taking you to her."  
>That would interfere with the Benedict's plan to come for us. I tried to reach out to Victor, but I couldn't. Even though I had left an opening in my shield, this building and it's surroundings were shielded so well that I couldn't reach him.<br>Will noticed my attempts and asked Amanda another question to ensure she wouldn't notice.  
>"And where is that?"<br>"You'll see. But you won't regret coming with us, your father is there as well."  
>My heart jumped a little, so they did have my parents! She wasn't going to give us any more information though.<p>

After breakfast we were taken to the same van they had used to get Will here. I tried to reach Victor again but it was no use, the shield was too strong.  
><em>They are taking us to the airport!<em>  
>Naturally, Will figured it out sooner than I could have, he knew his surroundings.<br>As soon as we walked inside, I claimed to be needing the toilet.  
>"Sure, I'll just walk you." Amanda followed close behind me.<br>When I sat down I tried reaching out to Victor again, assuming they wouldn't be able to shield the entire airport. Being separated from Will didn't matter for this, he was in my shield after all.  
><em>Why are you at the airport!? <em>Victor sounded angry. I flinched, it almost physically hurt, feeling so much anger through telepathy.  
><em>They are taking us away. Amanda wouldn't tell us where we're going, but I'm guessing The Netherlands, she said my father would be there as well.<br>No! _He roared. _That was not part of the plan.  
>Getting my soulfinder into danger wasn't part of the plan either Vick! <em>Will got involved but Victor seemed to ignore him.  
><em>Stall! <em>He commanded. _Stall them, stay there, do _not _get into a plane.  
>And how exactly do you suggest we do that? <em>Will was sounding just as furious as Victor was.  
><em>You will think of something.<br>_Even if I could, I wasn't about to do that. I was going to my family. Victor realized my intentions.  
><em>Linda,<em> he put some of his persuasion gift into his next words, _you have to...  
><em>I pushed him out, cutting him off. I was not letting him use his gift on me to keep me from my family.  
>"Are you almost done?" Amanda's voice came from the other end of the door.<br>I took a deep breath.


End file.
